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States Push to Extend Postpartum Medicaid Benefits to Save Lives
Two doulas attend a pregnant Medicaid beneficiary in her home in Minneapolis. States are moving toward extending Medicaid postpartum benefits in an attempt to stem high maternal mortality rates.
Leila Navidi
Star Tribune via Getty
More states are moving to extend Medicaid benefits to new mothers up to a full year after giving birth, far beyond the 60 days required by federal law.
That development, promoted by numerous medical groups as well as official state medical boards that focus on maternal health, reflects increasing alarm over the United States’ maternal mortality rate, which is the worst among developed nations and is trending in the wrong direction. There also is a growing awareness that women face increased health risks not only during pregnancy and labor and delivery, but also for months afterward. Nearly a quarter of postpartum-related deaths occur six week
Mattoon, IL, USA / MyRadioLink.com
For Immediate Release – April 29, 2021
Illinois Department of Public Health Releases Second Edition of Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report
SPRINGFIELD – Today the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) released the second edition of the Illinois Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report, covering deaths occurring in 2016-2017. Among a number of other findings, the report found that Black women continue to die at disparately higher rates due to medical causes White women were more likely to die from pregnancy-related mental health conditions.
Using a variety of data sources, IDPH identifies women who died while pregnant or within one year of pregnancy (pregnancy-associated deaths). IDPH convenes two maternal mortality review committees (MMRCs), which review specific cases of maternal death to identify the causes of death, determine whether the deaths were pregnancy-related (cause of death is directly related to pregnancy), determine
A group of Alabama lawmakers and state medical officials this week urged the Legislature to continue a second year of funding for a committee that investigates deaths of Alabama mothers in pregnancy or shortly after childbirth.
The Alabama Maternal Mortality Review Committee was established in 2018 but was run by volunteers until last year, when a nearly $500,000 appropriation enabled staff to oversee the work last year.
The MMRC s initial report, released late last year, investigated all maternal deaths in Alabama in 2016. Officials found nearly 70% of Alabama maternal deaths were preventable, and Black women were disproportionately affected. The recent report of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee was both shocking and informative, said Dr. Aruna Arora, president of the Medical Association of Alabama. That nearly 70% of the deaths could have possibly been prevented highlights the inequities of our current health system and underscores the need for continued annual r
State Rep. Vanessa Summers
INDIANAPOLIS Low-income Hoosier mothers will soon be covered under Medicaid for up to a full year postpartum, an increase to the 60 days currently covered.
Indiana has the nation’s third-highest maternal mortality rate, with Black mothers at higher risk than their white counterparts. An estimated 53 Black women die out of every 100,000 births compared to 44 white women.
Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis, celebrated that the news came during Black Maternal Health Week. Summers had written legislation pushing for the Medicaid expansion in the last two sessions along with other maternal mortality health care bills.
“Eighty-seven percent of pregnancy-associated deaths occurred postpartum, with a significant portion of those coming six weeks after giving birth,” Summers said in a statement. “By expanding Medicaid coverage, we are providing mothers with the continued care they need to survive and be around to raise their babies.”
ROSA WOODS/STUFF
Maternity is at crisis point, with a shortage of 200 midwives in hospitals nationwide. Kirsten Van Newtown started a petition for the government to start taking it seriously after her experience with a high risk pregnancy at Wellington hospital.
Year after year, babies are being born into a dangerously under-resourced maternity system. With hospital wards nationwide short 200 midwives and women having to fight for basic care, the minister previously in charge of the sector questions the political will to fix the problem. National Correspondent Michelle Duff investigates. Hours after Kelly gave birth by emergency c-section, she was ordered to get up and change her own maternity pad.