Three Ways State Medicaid Programs Can Improve Maternal Health

A report from Families USA discusses how states can adopt and expand three powerful maternal health interventions to reverse recent trends: establishing or expanding coverage toward a universal doula benefit, covering all midwives, and scaling up group prenatal care. These policies are particularly impactful because they combat significant drivers of poor maternal health outcomes, namely a lack of centering patient interests and respect, growing maternity care deserts, complications from c-sections, and postpartum depression and other mental health conditions.