Introduction
Disruptions in health coverage are associated with adverse health consequences.[note] B.D. Sommers et al., “Insurance Churning Rates For LowIncome Adults Under Health Reform: Lower Than Expected But Still Harmful For Many,” Health Affairs 35, no. 10 (October 2016), available at https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0455.[/note] This is especially true for women in their childbearing years, when a pregnancy means having health coverage is even more important. The stakes are high as the care a woman receives during pregnancy is critical to her own health, as well as to the health of her newborn. In the United States, maternal and infant mortality is higher than most other industrialized nations,[note]M.F. MacDorman et al., “International Comparisons of Infant
Mortality and Related Factors: United States and Europe, 2010,” National Vital Statistics Reports 63, no. 5, (September 2014), available at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr63/nvsr63_05.pdf.[/note] lending urgency to strategies to address the overall health of women.[note]M.F. MacDorman et al., “Is the United States Maternal Mortality Rate Increasing? Disentangling trends from measurement issues,” Obstetrics & Gynecology, 128 vol. 3 (September 2016): 447–455, available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/ PMC5001799/.[/note]
In this paper we review the substantial new research showing the significant improvements in access to health coverage for women of childbearing age achieved through the adoption of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion. Better health coverage is important not just for women who are pregnant but also for women well before they become pregnant and well after childbirth. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends women have access to continuous health coverage in order to increase preventive care, reduce avoidable adverse obstetric and gynecologic health outcomes, increase early diagnosis of disease and reduce maternal mortality rates.[note] American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, “Benefits
to Women of Medicaid Expansion Through the Affordable Care Act” (Washington: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, January 2013), available at https://www.acog.org/ClinicalGuidance-and-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committeeon-Health-Care-for-Underserved-Women/Benefits-to-Women-ofMedicaid-Expansion-Affordable-Care-Act.[/note] Research also finds that Medicaid expansion has an important role in reducing the significant and persistent racial disparities in maternal and infant health. And finally, new studies show that healthier mothers mean healthier infants— another benefit for states that expand Medicaid.
Full Report
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