Maternal & Early Childhood Health
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State Trends to Leverage Medicaid Extended Postpartum Coverage, Benefits and Payment Policies to Improve Maternal Health
Introduction Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) finance nearly half of all births each year, including a disproportionate share of births to women of color and women living in rural areas. *[1] Medicaid’s foundational role in maternity care financing presents a critical opportunity to leverage the program to respond to the ongoing U.S.…
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Medicaid Unwinding Risks Maternal Health Coverage Gains During Pandemic
The pandemic’s continuous coverage protection had a profound effect on health coverage for pregnant women and new mothers, who for the first time experienced pregnancy-related coverage that did not end just 60 days after the end of pregnancy. Before the pandemic, about half of all people covered by Medicaid for pregnancy lost coverage after the…
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Mothers’ Mental Health Challenges Predated COVID-19, Medicaid Policy and Other Solutions Needed, Report Finds
American families with children faced significant challenges during the pandemic due to school closures, lost jobs and isolation, and mothers reported higher rates of anxiety than fathers as they took on more caregiving responsibilities or even left their paid jobs. A full 50 percent of women ages 18 to 64 reported needing mental health services…
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Permanent Medicaid Postpartum Coverage Option, Maternal Health Infrastructure Investments in 2022 Year-End Omnibus Bill
Congress made several improvements to maternal health policy in the year-end Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022, signed by President Biden on December 29, which both solidify eligibility for extended Medicaid postpartum coverage and bolster the health system’s capacity to serve new mothers. These policy changes come alongside other Medicaid and CHIP provisions in the Omnibus…
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Early Research Shows Benefits of One Year of Postpartum Medicaid
Over the last several months, we’ve seen the Biden Administration approve more than half of states to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for one year after the end of pregnancy. Congress too has also considered proposals to require all states to offer 12 months of postpartum Medicaid coverage, which many advocates continue to champion to ensure…
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Maternal Health Policies: Will Congress Act During the Lame Duck Session?
By Maggie Clark and Kay Johnson As the 117th Congress completes its work in the ”lame duck” session this month, policy makers are considering a range of maternal health policy priorities. These changes are urgently needed: the nation’s maternal mortality rate increased for the fourth year in a row in 2021, and the latest data…
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Transparency in Medicaid Managed Care: The Power of the California Procurement Database
The Illinois Answers Project has just published a must-read piece of investigative reporting: “Insurance Giant Failed Foster Kids with Inadequate Care.” It raises a number of disturbing questions about the way children in foster care are being treated in the state’s Medicaid managed care program. About the performance of a Centene subsidiary that has contracted…
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Proposed Rule Offers Opportunity to Help Advance Maternal Health Equity
We can’t improve what we don’t measure. That’s why it is important for all who want to improve maternal and child health to take a look at a proposed rule now up for comment that provides an important opportunity to increase transparency and accountability for the quality of care delivered through Medicaid and CHIP. The…
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Doula Services in Medicaid: Pathways and Payment Rates (Part 3 in a series)
As awareness around the worsening maternal mortality crisis increases, states continue to look towards covering doula care in Medicaid as a potential strategy to improve birth outcomes, particularly for birthing people of color. More than half the states are working towards Medicaid coverage for doula care. But how can states implement these programs effectively and…
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New Rule Lays Groundwork for Hospital Transparency and Accountability for Maternity Care
Last month, CMS finalized a rule that lays the groundwork for a major step forward for hospital accountability for maternity care. Tucked inside an annual final rulemaking on Medicare hospital payment, CMS added a new requirement for hospitals to publicly report maternity care quality metrics. Depending on the hospital’s performance, hospitals may be awarded a…
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Georgia’s Women of Reproductive Age Face Many Barriers to Health Care
One in Five Women of Reproductive Age Is Uninsured in Georgia Largely due to the state’s decision not to expand Medicaid, Georgia has one of the highest rates of uninsured women of reproductive age (18-44) in the country with nearly one in five (19.3 percent) lacking health insurance. Georgia ranks 46th in the country and…
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New Brief: Postpartum Medicaid Extension An Opportunity to Improve Maternal and Child Health, But Impact Limited Without Medicaid Expansion
The U.S. is facing a worsening maternal mortality crisis that disproportionately affects pregnant people of color, and research suggests that the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the constitutional protection of access to safe and legal abortions could further exacerbate current racial, economic and social inequities in maternal and infant…
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Opportunities to Support Maternal and Child Health Through Medicaid’s New Postpartum Coverage Extension
Introduction The new state option to extend Medicaid and CHIP coverage for one year after the end of pregnancy is a transformational opportunity for states to support improved maternal and infant health in the year following birth. It also offers state Medicaid leaders a focused moment to use the successful implementation of the new policy…
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Infants Covered by Medicaid and CHIP Likely Hardest Hit by Formula Shortage, WIC a Key Resource
Before newborns can try solid foods, breastmilk or infant formula are the sole sources of nutrition to keep them fed. This is why the infant formula shortage has added yet another layer of stress on families with infants. As many families continue to struggle to access formula, a new brief from the Kaiser Family Foundation…
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Biden Administration Releases Badly Needed Maternal Mortality Strategy as Dobbs Decision Could Worsen Crisis
The U.S. is in the midst of a maternal mortality crisis: rates of maternal death are rising and Black women continue to die from pregnancy-related causes at more than twice the national average. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to allow states to ban abortion could make the maternal…
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Doula Services in Medicaid: State Progress in 2022
During last April’s Black Maternal Health Week, hosted by Black Mammas Alliance, policymakers, advocates, and community members came together to shed light and share policy solutions to combat the current maternal health crisis greatly affecting Black and brown birthing people in the US, which only worsened with the pandemic. The most recent CDC data shows…
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Maternal Mental Health Hotline, Postpartum Medicaid Extension Approvals Show Support for New Moms
New moms experiencing mental health challenges now have access to a free, confidential 24-hour hotline to help them talk through their challenges with counselors trained to offer maternal mental health support, Biden Administration officials announced earlier this month. The new maternal mental health hotline, accessible for free by call or text to 1-833-9-HELP4MOMS, is live…
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Fewer People Lost Postpartum Medicaid Coverage During the Pandemic, New Study Finds
More people had stable access to Medicaid coverage in the year after giving birth during the COVID-19 pandemic, which suggests that the Families First Coronavirus Response Act’s Medicaid continuous coverage provision, which linked receipt of enhanced federal Medicaid and CHIP funding to a prohibition on involuntary disenrollment from Medicaid during the COVID-19 public health emergency,…
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Policymakers Have More Work to Do to Address the Black Maternal Health Crisis
By Maggie Clark and Kay Johnson Last month, policymakers and advocates marked the fifth-annual Black Maternal Health Week and called attention to the policy changes that can help put an end to the country’s increasing and unacceptably high rates of maternal mortality, especially for Black women who die from pregnancy-related causes at a rate more…
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One Year of Medicaid Postpartum Coverage Option Begins Today, More Approvals to Come
Today marks the start of a significant policy change that will extend lifesaving health coverage to hundreds of thousands of pregnant and postpartum people each year: the American Rescue Plan’s option to extend postpartum coverage from 60 days to one year after the end of pregnancy. CMS announced today that Louisiana was the first state…
