By Jonah Beleckis for the Wisconsin Independent.
Broadcast version by Judith Ruiz-Branch for Wisconsin News Connection reporting for the Wisconsin Independent-Public News Service Collaboration.
Leaders of Wisconsin’s health department are celebrating the July start of a new law that extends postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a year, a policy that they said will save lives.
About 16,000 Wisconsinites who use Medicaid will gain extended coverage over the next year, said Wisconsin Department of Health Services Secretary Kirsten Johnson.
“This is a tremendous win for our state: to provide access to care when a person needs it the most,” Johnson said at a recent press conference. “Continuous coverage during the first year after pregnancy is critical to help moms access care early, manage their health, reduce long-term emotional and financial strain on families, reduce preventable deaths in the months following a pregnancy, and prevent gaps in healthcare coverage.”
Wisconsin had been one of only two states, along with Arkansas, that had not extended postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a full year. Johnson said it had taken seven years of requesting the extension of coverage through state budget proposals to get it accomplished.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said in a news release that he had included the proposal in all four of his state budgets.
Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos had blocked votes on the measure time and again, saying the state already had enough welfare, ProPublica reported. Vos, who is retiring after this year, ultimately voted in support of the bill in February.
“Extending postpartum coverage was the right move for Wisconsin families and the right move for our state, and I’m darn proud that we got this done so that more moms and babies have the care they need when they need it,” Evers said in the release. “We know that postpartum recovery is a heckuva a lot longer than 60 days, and expanded postpartum coverage can and will save lives. That’s why I’ve been fighting to get this done for a long time, and I am glad Wisconsin’s women and families are finally getting the expanded coverage they deserve, including over 16,000 moms this year alone. That is a really big deal.”
Medicaid covers two in every five births in the state, according to the state health department. Johnson said in the release from Evers’ office nearly half of pregnancy-related deaths happen in the year after a pregnancy ends, and nearly all of those deaths are preventable.
Dr. Jasmine Zapata, the state epidemiologist for maternal and child health and chronic diseases, is co-chair of the Wisconsin Maternal Mortality Review Team, which reviews information about pregnancy-associated deaths in the state.
Zapata said during the press conference that other states with extended Medicaid coverage had more than a 50% greater decline in infant mortality rates compared with other states.
Asked how extended postpartum Medicaid coverage is relevant to infant mortality, Zapata said that one factor is that getting pregnant again too soon after giving birth increases the risk of preterm birth, one of the leading causes of infant mortality. She said the extended coverage decreases that risk.
Additionally, she said, the No. 1 reason that people die during pregnancy or within one year postpartum in Wisconsin is mental health conditions or overdose.
Those with opioid use disorder who recently gave birth have the highest risk of overdose between seven and 12 months postpartum, according to a report issued in 2021 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The extended coverage gives people who need help more time to find it.
“Every life that we can save matters, even if it’s just one. Even if all of this last seven years it took, and it’s going to save one life, guess what: That one life is so important,” Zapata said. “But we’re hoping for even more than that.”
Jonah Beleckis wrote this article for the Wisconsin Independent.
