BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Pregnant women in Alabama will soon have access to health care coverage through Medicaid before the agency approves their application.
On Tuesday, the Alabama House of Representatives unanimously passed HB 89, a bill that would give pregnant women “presumptive eligibility” for Medicaid. Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, authored the companion bill, adding that it would go a long way toward saving lives.
“It’s saving the lives of babies,” Coleman-Madison said. “It’s often times saving the lives of the mother, because if the mother has some kind of issues early on, that will be detected as well.”
According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, the infant mortality rate across the state increased to 7.8 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2023, the highest it’s been since 2016 and higher than the national rate of 5.6 deaths per 1,000 live births.
“We are very aware that we need to do better maternal and infant outcomes, our numbers are at the bottom and that’s a trend that has to be reversed, and so I think this is a really good first step toward that,” said bill author Rep. Marilyn Lands, D-Huntsville.
A chart from the Alabama Department of Public Health shows that 45% of infant births in state were paid for by Medicaid in 2023.
Yuriana Serrano of Bessemer gave birth to her first child in Florida, which has presumptive eligibility, but her daughter was born in Alabama.
“With my first child I had him in Florida, so it’s a lot different than the process here, but with my second one, I had to wait about a month until I had Medicaid coverage,” Serrano said.
Thanks to new legislation that gives pregnant women presumptive eligibility for Medicaid, that will all change.
“I know the struggle that I went through getting care and everything, so I think it’s important,” she added.
While Gretchen McCreless, who has two children, had her pregnancies covered private coverage, she was excited about the passage of the new bill.
“I think we have a lot of work to do for maternal care in the country, but especially in Alabama, and so I think that opens a lot of doors for those women to get adequate care sooner without having to go through a lot of hurdles,” McCreless said.
The bill now awaits Gov. Kay Ivey’s signature.
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