A bipartisan committee of Senate lawmakers is seeking to extend post-partum Medicaid benefits from six weeks to a full twelve months. During a hearing held by the committee, doctors shared their expert knowledge on how this change could benefit parents, children and the state.
Dr. Anita Henderson is President of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She says parents in states with extended postpartum Medicaid benefits are more likely to seek preventative medicine, which can help them avoid major health problems down the line.
“So for care for their high blood pressure, care for their diabetes, care for all those chronic medical problems increase when they have access,” says Dr. Henderson. “And traditionally, about half of all moms in the postpartum period do not keep that six week post partum visit, and that is an important visit.”
Women’s bodies undergo major changes during pregnancy, where organs shift, immune systems weaken, and nutrients are shared with the fetus.
Doctors say bodies need time to recover from those changes after giving birth.
“Some of these can be linked directly back to the physiology of pregnancy which does not return to normal in some women for up to a year after the birth of their child,” says Dr. Martin Tucker Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He says everyone who gives birth is at a greater health risk, especially those who have pre-existing conditions.
“When you take a patient who has an underlying medical disease already and compound these building blocks on top of that, she is high risk and is at risk of a very much higher level for any of these happening during pregnancy.”
Officials with the Mississippi Division of Medicaid estimate it would cost Mississippi $7 million per year for a full 12-month extension on post-partum benefits. The cost to the state would be $3 million with a six-month extension.
