Medicaid is a safety net for millions of mothers and children and helps ensure a strong start to a child’s life. Many mothers, expectant mothers, and young children rely on Medicaid for the high-quality, affordable care it provides, including prenatal and postpartum services, well-child visits, and much more.
The Modern Medicaid Alliance is showcasing both Medicaid’s critical role in providing maternal health services for enrollees and the work of our partners to support pregnant women and new mothers.
Leading Maternal Health Advocacy
Modern Medicaid Alliance partner the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP) recently published a new blog post for the Maternal Health Learning & Innovation Center, “Round-up on Postpartum Medicaid Extension Activity & Resources,” that gives an overview of where things stand on federal and state proposals to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage. The blog post also shares resources to dig deeper and stay up to date on the topic and discusses what to keep an eye on in the coming months for potential policy advances on this topic.
Additionally, AMCHP published a maternal health bill tracker for the 117th Congress. The tracker provides key information on pending legislation related to maternal health, including concise summaries, bill sponsors, links to the bills on congress.gov, committee information, and the current status of each bill.
The tracker is updated every week to ensure the information stays relevant and accurate. Advocates can use the bill title search bar and topics drop-down menu to refine bill searches, and legislation can also be sorted by whether or not it is bipartisan.
Addressing Maternal Vaccine Coverage Disparities
Leading maternal health stakeholders — including Modern Medicaid Alliance partners AHIP, Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, HealthyWomen, and National Minority Quality Forum — recently published a white paper that aims to provide a better understanding of the factors that may be driving and contributing to continued maternal immunization challenges.
The paper explores two of the primary challenges impeding efforts to close vaccination gaps: inadequate high-quality maternal immunization data, and issues related to coordination and implementation of maternal immunization programs on the ground. Further, findings from the paper underscore that while the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated maternal immunization challenges, it has also raised important conversations on barriers to vaccination and prompted increased policy momentum and investment in resources and infrastructure related to immunization.
Spotlighting New Alliance Initiatives
Modern Medicaid Alliance partners are rising to the challenge of improving maternal health outcomes not only through specialized initiatives, but through their day-to-day work as well. As part of our new Medicaid Spotlight initiative, the Alliance recently spoke to Dr. Gloria N. Eldridge, PhD, the Medicaid and CHIP policy lead and the health equity policy lead at the Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC), about HCSC’s work to bring about policy solutions that combat maternal mortality.
Additionally, the Modern Medicaid Alliance developed an infographic with the Nurse-Family Partnership, a national program serving first-time moms and their children living in poverty, about two of their new programs supporting families in need.
While COVID-19 has exacerbated maternal health challenges across the country, Modern Medicaid Alliance partners are stepping up to help those in need.
For more information about the Medicaid Spotlight initiative, click here.