Medicaid Expansion Helps Pregnant Women and Their Babies
An intuitive assumption now has evidence to support it: Medicaid expansion has improved the health of pregnant women and their babies.
According to a new study from the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families,
…states that expand Medicaid improve the health of women of childbearing age: increasing access to preventive care, reducing adverse health outcomes before, during and after pregnancies, and reducing maternal mortality rates.
Better health for women of childbearing age also means better health for their infants. States that have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act saw a 50 percent greater reduction in infant mortality than non-expansion states.
The report notes that the number of uninsured women of childbearing age in Pennsylvania fell 49 percent during the three years after Pennsylvania expanded its Medicaid program. Significant numbers of these newly insured women are served by Pennsylvania safety-net hospitals.
Learn more, including specific health benefits enjoyed by pregnant women and their babies, in the Georgetown study “Medicaid Expansion Fills Gaps in Maternal Health Coverage Leading to Healthier Mothers and Babies.”
Included in this month’s edition are articles about:
Because the state’s borrowing against future tobacco settlement proceeds was never intended to result in a reduction of these payments in the future, 
According to the document,
Community HealthChoices is a new state program of managed long-term services and supports for Pennsylvanians over the age of 55 who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has vetoed a bill that included a requirement that certain Medicaid recipients either work or search for work.
Among the possibilities state lawmakers are discussing: tighter rules for participation, greater efficiency, work and work search requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients, charging premiums for high-income families for which Medicaid provides coverage for their profoundly disabled children, and a pilot program to test whether a recipient care management program might eliminate medical errors, improve recipient health, and reduce health care costs.