Medicaid Outreach and Enrollment for Pregnant Women: What Is the State of the Art?
Mar, 2009
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ReportOver the past twenty years, the United States has experienced divergent trends in birth outcomes, with some key indicators improving and others worsening. In that same time, the level of attention that the federal and state governments have focused on publicly sponsored health insurance for pregnant women has fluctuated, with major efforts to expand health insurance coverage and access to prenatal care concentrated in the early years of this period, and considerably less activity in recent years as child health insurance expansions have been in the policy spotlight. The last two decades have also witnessed major changes within health care delivery and financing systems, with expansion in the use of managed care as well as new family planning initiatives that target low-income women of childbearing age. Given these trends, the March of Dimes asked the Urban Institute, with its partner the National Academy for State Health Policy, to assess the current “state of the art” of state Medicaid program efforts to reach out to and enroll pregnant women into coverage.
To view the results of this assessment, click here.