Medicaid and moms: the potential impact of extending medicaid coverage to mothers for 1 year after delivery

The American Rescue Plan provides a pathway for states to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage for low-income mothers through 12 months after delivery. Data suggests that extension of post-partum Medicaid coverage should improve access to outpatient health care services, increase healthcare utilization, improve chronic disease management for at-risk mothers, and reduce disparities in care for racial/ethnic groups over-represented in Medicaid. Opportunities to provide increased preventive care for perinatal mood disorders and smoking cessation also exist. Further, this policy may reduce the burden of late maternal mortality. While improved access to contraceptive service postpartum provides a potential mechanism by which birth outcomes may improve, the effect of this policy on NICU admission, low birth weight (LBW) infants, and preterm birth is unknown. We discuss possible birth, infant and maternal health outcomes which may result from this expansion, drawing on data from the 2010 Medicaid Expansion via the Affordable Care Act.