Washington, D.C. – This week, the Women’s Initiative at the Center for American Progress released a new issue brief outlining key actions that the Biden administration, as well as state executives, can take to strengthen maternal health care. The brief comes as the United States marks 11 years since the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law, which mandated coverage of maternity and newborn care benefits for certain plans. Despite the ACA, the need for further immediate action is crucial.
A 2019 CAP report identified Black women in America as being three to four times as likely to die as a result of preventable pregnancy-related causes than white women and that, among those women who survive pregnancy and childbirth, 50,000 suffer life-threatening pregnancy-related complications. Administrative actions highlighted in the brief include:
- Improving the ACA marketplaces by creating a special enrollment period for pregnancy
- Establishing minimum standards for maternity benefits and network adequacy
- Encouraging one-year Medicaid postpartum coverage
- Creating quality-driven care models
Please click here to read: “Building on the ACA: Administrative Actions to Improve Maternal Health” by Jamille Fields Allsbrook and Osub Ahmed
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Colin Seeberger at [email protected] or 202.741.6292.