After years of refusing to expand Medicaid benefits for new moms, Republican officials in more than a half-dozen states are now reversing course and trumpeting that coverage as central to their conservative, anti-abortion agenda.
The shift in GOP support for postpartum Medicaid coverage is occurring in some states that have severely limited or outlawed abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion last June. The effort also comes as federal protections guaranteeing people stay continuously enrolled in Medicaid during the COVID-19 pandemic are set to expire in a few weeks.
In Wyoming, where an abortion ban remains in legal limbo, Republican Gov. Mark Gordon echoed a similar refrain when he signed a bill extending postpartum Medicaid coverage into law on Friday, calling it a “signature piece of pro-life legislation.” Republicans, however, have long criticized efforts to expand Medicaid, a taxpayer-funded program that provides health care coverage to roughly 84 million of the country’s poorest people.
Mothers who are cut off from Medicaid after 60 days might not only lose access to their insurance, but the doctors they developed relationships with throughout their pregnancy as well, noted Laura Wherry, a New York University economics professor who researches Medicaid expansion. Texas, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Idaho and South Dakota are among the states that have mostly banned abortion and only offer women 60 days of postpartum Medicaid coverage.
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