Utah News Dispatch
Utahns will have Medicaid and CHIP postpartum coverage for 12 months
Utah families will now be able to access Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) postpartum coverage for 12 months, up from the previous six weeks. The extension comes after newly-released data demonstrated worse rates of deaths associated with pregnancy and health outcome disparities among communities of color across the country. Utah joined 44 other […]
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Utah is extending its postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage for 12 months in an effort to address rising maternal mortality rates. In this photo, 2-month-old Karina, the child of uninsured parents, receives drops of children’s Tylenol after getting a vaccination at a low-cost clinic run by the Rocky Mountain Youth Clinics on July 28, 2009 in Aurora, Colorado. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Utah families will now be able to access Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) postpartum coverage for 12 months, up from the previous six weeks.
The extension comes after newly-released data demonstrated worse rates of deaths associated with pregnancy and health outcome disparities among communities of color across the country.
Utah joined 44 other states in offering the extension. Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Nevada, Wisconsin haven’t signed up yet to extend the coverage for 12 months. This is part of a policy that the Biden administration has pushed to propel a “Maternity Care Action Plan,” to improve maternal health in underserved communities, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a news release.
“Since the day we took office, President Biden and I have worked to finally treat maternal mortality as the national crisis it is and expand access to high-quality postpartum care. That is why I called on states to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage from two months to 12 months,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in the release. “45 states have now done so, and I applaud Utah for joining so many others in answering my call — to the benefit of millions of women and children throughout America.”
The U.S. is experiencing a maternal health crisis, the Government Accountability Office said in a report. The country “has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among high-income nations” and communities of color are disproportionately affected.
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Maternal deaths climbed during the COVID-19 pandemic, going from 658 in 2018 to 1,205 in 2021, the GAO said. That number then decreased to 817 deaths in 2022.
The maternal mortality rate among Hispanic and African American women was about 2.5 times greater than among White women from 2018 to 2022. During the 2021 peak, the maternal mortality rate was 118.7 per 100,000 live births for American Indian or Alaska Native women. For Black women, it was 69.9, while White women’s rate was 26.6 that year.
One in three pregnancy-related deaths happen between six weeks and one year after childbirth, the DHHS said.
About 4,000 women in Utah will have access to the coverage, according to the department’s announcement.
The extension was also a part of SB133, Modifications to Medicaid Coverage, signed by Gov. Spencer Cox in 2023.
“Medicaid plays a critical role in ensuring access to care for pregnant and postpartum individuals,” a spokesperson from the Utah Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement, explaining that postpartum care includes a range of needs, such as recovery from childbirth, follow up on pregnancy complications, management of chronic health conditions — including depression, diabetes and hypertension — family planning, mental health care.
“At least one-third of maternal deaths occur in the postpartum period. We are thrilled to be able to provide this support and resource for new mothers,” the spokesperson said.
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