In 2023, more states are likely to consider extending postpartum Medicaid coverage.
Most of the 15 Republican-led states with a 60-day postpartum Medicaid eligibility limit range from the Mountain West to the South. This is likely to change as legislative sessions begin in 2023. These states are highly likely to extend the coverage.
There has been growing support for governments to prolong the standard 60-day mandated coverage term before the emergency’s end.
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Statistics-wise, around 42% of pregnancies are covered under Medicaid. Medicaid is the federal state’s health insurance program for low-income people. The aim behind proposing extended Medicaid is to reduce risky pregnancies and pregnancy-related deaths, and other complications.
A year of continuous health care for new mothers enrolled in Medicaid is something lawmakers in many conservative-led states, including Montana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Mississippi, are expected to consider.
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Thirty-five states and the District of Columbia have previously extended postpartum eligibility in their Medicaid programs or intend to do so. Texas and Wisconsin are included in this figure; however, they suggested short extensions of six months and 90 days, respectively.
As per a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published in 2021, the move would help around 2,000 women in Montana. However, the estimate of state officials is half that amount.
Federal health officials report that one in three pregnancy-related deaths take place between a week and twelve months after delivery and that more than one in five moms whose pregnancies were covered by Medicaid lose their insurance within six months of giving birth nationwide.