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HHS
Approves 12-month Extension of Postpartum Medicaid and CHIP Coverage in
North Carolina
Announcement
comes as CMS also celebrates all 50 states and D.C. providing dental
coverage in Medicaid/CHIP for pregnant and postpartum individuals, part
of the Biden-Harris Administration’s push for more comprehensive health
care to support families, children, and communities in need.
Today, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS), approved the extension of Medicaid and
Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage for 12 months after
pregnancy in North Carolina. As a result, up to an additional 28,000
people will now be eligible for Medicaid
or CHIP for a full year after pregnancy in North Carolina. With
today’s approval, in combination with previously approved state
extensions, an estimated 361,000 Americans annually in 24 states and D.C.
are eligible for 12 months of postpartum coverage. If all states adopted
this option, as many as 720,000 people across the United States would be
guaranteed Medicaid and CHIP coverage for 12 months after pregnancy.
The Biden-Harris Administration has
made expanding access to high-quality, affordable health care a top
priority – and because of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and other
Administration efforts, more people than ever before have health
insurance coverage. Extending Medicaid postpartum coverage is an
important part of these efforts.
In addition to today’s postpartum
extension in North Carolina, the Biden-Harris Administration is also
highlighting that, beginning in October 2022, all 50 states and D.C. will
offer dental coverage for Medicaid enrollees who are pregnant and
postpartum through at least 60 days after pregnancy. This change means
that an even broader array of critical Medicaid benefits will be
available during and after pregnancy.
“We are thrilled to have North
Carolina join our efforts to support healthy parents and babies by
offering critical coverage through the first full year after pregnancy,”
said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. “The Biden-Harris Administration has
made addressing the maternal health crisis an urgent priority, and
actions like today’s extension in North Carolina are a key part of our
work. We are continuing to do all we can to strengthen Medicaid and CHIP
and ensure all families and children get the high-quality, affordable
health care they deserve.”
“North Carolina joins a growing
list of state partners choosing to prioritize health care coverage in the
critical first year after pregnancy,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita
Brooks-LaSure. “The American Rescue Plan serves as a foundation to
support the health and wellbeing of postpartum women and families. Thanks
to the Administration’s Maternal Health Blueprint, including CMS’ own
Maternity Care Action Plan, we’re continuing to improve maternal health
across the country.”
The Biden-Harris Administration has
championed policies to improve maternal health and equity since the
President and Vice President first took office. In April 2021, President
Biden issued the first-ever Presidential Proclamation marking Black Maternal
Health Week. In December 2021, Vice President Harris hosted the
first-ever White House Maternal Health Day of Action, where she announced
important commitments to address the maternal health crisis. The Vice
President also issued a call to action to the private and public sectors
to improve maternal health outcomes, where she urged states to extend
Medicaid coverage for postpartum women from 2 months to 12 months, and
announced guidance for how states can extend their coverage.
Additionally, she convened a historic meeting with Cabinet secretaries
and agency leaders to discuss the Administration’s whole-of-government
approach to addressing maternal mortality and morbidity. Today’s
announcement is part of HHS’ ongoing effort to support safe pregnancies and
childbirth, eliminate pregnancy-related health disparities, and improve
health outcomes for parents and infants across our country.
In June, the White House released
the Biden-Harris
Administration’s Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis, a whole-of-government approach to combatting
maternal mortality and morbidity. For far too many people, complications
related to pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period can lead to
devastating health outcomes and result in hundreds of deaths each year.
This maternal health crisis is particularly devastating for Black and
American Indian and Alaska Native people, and those in rural communities,
who all experience maternal mortality and morbidity at significantly
higher rates than their white and urban counterparts.
In July, CMS released its Maternity
Care Action Plan to support the implementation of the
Biden-Harris Administration’s Blueprint. The action plan includes
postpartum coverage extensions through Medicaid and CHIP. It takes a
holistic and coordinated approach across CMS to improve health outcomes
and reduce disparities for people during pregnancy, childbirth, and the
postpartum period. CMS’ implementation of the action plan will support
the Biden-Harris Administration’s broad vision and call to action to
improve maternal health.
Today’s extension of coverage was
made possible by a new state plan authority established by the ARP,
under which states may extend postpartum coverage in their Medicaid and
CHIP programs from the current mandatory 60-day period to 12 months.
North Carolina is the most recent state to extend Medicaid and CHIP
coverage for 12 months following pregnancy, joining California;
Connecticut; Florida; Hawaii; Illinois; Indiana; Kansas; Kentucky;
Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; New
Jersey; New Mexico; Ohio; Oregon; South Carolina; Tennessee; Virginia;
Washington state; Washington, D.C.; and West Virginia. CMS continues to
work with other states that have proposed adopting the ARP option to
extend postpartum coverage to 12 months. For more information, consult
the fact sheet available here.
Medicaid
covers 42% of all births in the nation and more than half of all children
in the country. This new option for states to extend Medicaid and CHIP
postpartum coverage is part of ongoing efforts through HHS and the
Biden-Harris Administration to address disparities in maternal health
outcomes by opening the door to postpartum care for hundreds of thousands
of people. Extending Medicaid postpartum coverage is an important part of
these efforts, as highlighted in the Biden-Harris Administration’s
Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis and CMS’ recently
released Maternity
Care Action Plan.
For more information on these and other efforts to advance connections to
care for pregnant and postpartum individuals, consult this
fact sheet.
As noted in a report published by the HHS Office of Assistant
Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, one in three pregnancy-related
deaths occur between one week and one year after childbirth. The postpartum
period is critical for recovering from childbirth, addressing
complications of delivery, ensuring mental health, managing infant care,
and transitioning from obstetric to primary care.
Visit Medicaid.gov to learn more
about the Medicaid
and CHIP state plan amendment extensions of postpartum
coverage in North Carolina.
Get CMS news at cms.gov/newsroom, sign up for CMS news via
email and follow CMS on Twitter @CMSgov
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