State extends postpartum coverage from 60 days to one year for moms on Medicaid

In a move that experts say will save lives and lead to healthier new moms, the state Wednesday announced it has extended postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to one year.

“This is a time where you lose the patient,” Heather Findletar Hines, director of the midwifery program at the Stony Brook University School of Nursing, said of the year after giving birth.

About a quarter of pregnancy-related deaths in New York in 2018 occurred 43 days to one year after the end of pregnancy, according to an April 2022 state health department report on maternal mortality. There were 126 pregnancy-related deaths statewide from 2018 to 2020, including 15 on Long Island, according to state health department data.

The postpartum extension “covers the conditions that might come up, some of the leading causes of maternal mortality, like preeclampsia and blood clots,” said Martine Hackett, director of public health programs at Hofstra University in Hempstead and co-founder of Birth Justice Warriors, which works to reduce maternal and infant mortality. “Those are things that don't necessarily happen while you're in the hospital, but can extend beyond that.”

Dr. Zenobia Brown, senior vice president, population health care management, and associate chief medical officer at Northwell Health, said that when women lose access to health care after 60 days, it puts them at risk for an array of medical conditions, including chronic illness.

“This is absolutely critical,” she said of the extension.

New York is the 35th state to obtain Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approval for the extension, a CMS news release said. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program. The extension went into effect Wednesday.

The 2022 maternal mortality report had recommended one-year coverage, and the state budgeted for the extension, which will be paid for by a combination of state and federal money, a health department spokeswoman said last year.

The estimated annual cost to the state is $54 million, health department spokeswoman Danielle De Souza said Wednesday. The extension also is for Child Health Plus, which is for children from families that don't qualify for Medicaid.

About 46% of births in New York in 2021 were financed by Medicaid, according to an analysis of federal data by the San Francisco-based health-policy nonprofit KFF.

“The extension of postpartum coverage displays the department’s commitment to ensure that all individuals who give birth have the vital resources and services they need to have safe pregnancies, no matter their race, where they live, or immigration status,” state health commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement.

Women with lower incomes have additional stressors that affect their physical and mental health, Hackett said.

Black women are more than four times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than white, Hispanic or Asian and Pacific Islander women, 2016-20 health department data shows.

Hines said the extension “will help to start making a dent [in the disparity]. It’s not going to close the gap. We need more than that.”

She said Medicaid coverage for doulas and lactation consulting would further reduce deaths and postpartum physical and mental health problems.

Brown said more attention should be paid to women’s health risks and needs post-birth.

“The mistake that we've made in obstetrics and gynecology is thinking about it as a self-limited event: You have the baby, and it's over,” she said. “In fact, especially when you have a complication, the repercussions can go on for a long time, for years.”

By David Olson

david.olson@newsday.com@DavidOlson11

David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.