(AmericanProsperity.com) – A Mississippi law would allow for earlier Medicaid coverage for pregnant women in the state to help combat the mortality rate that’s seen within the state.
Mississippi has the nation’s highest infant mortality rate and doctors stress the importance of prenatal care. With this law, Medicaid would pay for a pregnant woman’s outpatient care for up to sixty days while they wait for their applications to be approved.
Medicaid applications can take weeks to process sometimes and prenatal care should begin as soon as the woman finds out she is pregnant. Many are praising the new law and say it’s a step in the right direction for women’s and baby’s health.
The Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, an advocacy group said, “This represents a significant step forward in the effort to create better health for women and their families.” According to a report done by the Department of Health, black infants are twice as likely to die than white infants as concluded over the last decade.
The program called “Presumptive Medicaid” would still require the expecting mother to fill out an application with income verification and other details, but it will still cover the services that were provided through the verification process. Over half of the women in the state used Medicaid last year to cover their births.
Mississippi’s Medicaid coverage covers many bases for women; many can get coverage depending on their dependents and household income. They also recently voted to get a Medicaid expansion but the State Senate hasn’t voted on an expansion yet.
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