Amid dire maternal mortality rates, Congress falls short on Medicaid postpartum care
Last week, the state of Texas issued a long-awaited report that found at least 118 women in the state died from causes related to pregnancy in 2019. Most of those deaths were preventable. The report’s top recommendation was a familiar but often-bypassed way to reduce maternal mortality: Ensure that all people have access to health care during pregnancy and for at least a year afterward.
Congressional Democrats in Washington scrambled this month to make that a federal requirement for every state’s Medicaid program. They didn’t quite make it.
