Bill calling for additional prenatal care access will get filed again next year

Rep. Marilyn Lands, D-Huntsville, listens to debate in the Alabama House of Representations in the Alabama Statehouse on April 9, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Low-income people can face delays to access prenatal care, which can reduce the risk of complications during pregnancy, such as miscarriage or infant death.

Because it can take up to two months for people who are pregnant and apply for Medicaid to get coverage, HB 494 , sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Lands, D-Huntsville, would have provided prenatal care to low-income pregnant people for up to 60 days during pregnancy.

“We know the earlier that a woman gets prenatal care, the better those outcomes are,” Lands said. “It also helps to identify pre-existing conditions, like diabetes or high blood pressure, that can then be managed right from the start of a pregnancy. So overall, it reduces our health care cost because of those better outcomes.”

The bill was filed too late into this year’s session and did not have enough days to pass, but Lands said she plans to bring the legislation again next year with support from Republican lawmakers.

“This issue resonates with women, first of all, because we know how important that early care is, and most of us are mamas, and so we understand the importance of it,” Lands said.

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur said that she wanted to support the bill, but she said it was too late to address her concerns with language in the legislation. She said she was concerned about the cost. The bill did not include a fiscal note. She said the Legislature in 2022 passed a bill to extend Medicaid coverage after giving birth from 60 days to 12 months, and that was an added cost of $2 million to the budget.

Collins also said that she would like to know what would happen if Medicaid coverage was denied after the 60 days. She asked how Medicaid could verify if the applicant would be eligible once the 60 days pass.

Alabama OB-GYN residencies dropped over 20% after Dobbs, state abortion ban, says analysis

“Hopefully that would not be prohibitive, but it’s still good to know what the cost is when you’re working on legislation,” Collins said.

Lands said the benefits of providing coverage to pregnant people, even if they don’t end up qualifying for Medicaid, outweigh the cost.

“The dollar amount with that, I think, is offset by the better outcomes that we’ll have and the lowering of health care costs across the board because of this. It’ll be a win, win on both sides,” Lands said.

The state’s infant mortality rate in 2022 was 6.7 per 1,000 live births, a decrease from 7.6 per 1,000 in 2021 but higher than the national average of 5.6 , according to Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH).

For Black infants, the state infant mortality rate was 12.4 per 1,000 live births in 2022. That was an increase over the 11 deaths per 1,000 in 2018. For white infants, the mortality rate in 2022 was 4.3 per 1,000, an all-time low.

White infants account for 69.8% of births in Alabama but make up 44.5% of deaths. Black infants account for 28% of births but 51.4% of deaths.

The report identified birth defects as the leading cause of infant mortality, with 69 cases in the state in 2022. Sudden unexplained death followed with 47 cases and preterm and low-birth weight with 38 cases.

Mississippi passed legislation this year that provided 60 days of preemptive coverage for low-income pregnant people this year, joining 29 other states.

Robin Marty, executive director of WAWC Healthcare, formerly West Alabama Women’s Center, said that she has no doubt the bill will come back next year, but it needs time. If Alabama adopts this policy, she said this would “be a panacea for maternal health care.”

“[The bill] was a reminder to everyone that we have an entire population that has been ignored by our Legislature, and that’s a population in crisis,” Marty said.

The post Bill calling for additional prenatal care access will get filed again next year appeared first on Alabama Reflector .