Post-ACA, More Than One-Third Of Women With Prenatal Medicaid Remained Uninsured Before Or After Pregnancy

• DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2020.01678
• Publication Date: 2021-04-05T19:46:16Z
• Authors: Emily M. Johnston; Stacey McMorrow; Clara Alvarez Car...; Lisa Dubay
• Keywords: Prenatal Care

Medicaid has a long history of serving pregnant women, but many women are not eligible for before pregnancy or after sixty days postpartum. We used data new mothers with Medicaid-covered prenatal care in 2015–18 from forty-three states participating the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) to describe patterns perinatal uninsurance and health outcomes experiencing uninsurance. found that 26.8 percent were uninsured pregnancy, 21.9 became two six months postpartum, 34.5 either period, higher rates nonexpansion Hispanic who completed PRAMS survey Spanish. Together, our findings indicate despite recent coverage gains, further policy change is needed help maintain insurance allow them address ongoing issues including obesity depression.