Mississippi Senate May Revive Longer Medicaid Care For Postpartum Moms – Kaiser Health News

Mississippi’s lieutenant governor says that efforts to increase Medicaid coverage from 2 months to 12 for people who just gave birth may not be dead afterall. The measure had overwhelmingly passed the state Senate, but House leaders refused to bring it to a floor vote last week. Other Medicaid news reports on the likely loss of coverage for many Americans when the covid emergency declaration lapses.

AP:
Mississippi Could Renew Push To Extend Medicaid For New Moms

Mississippi’s Republican-led Senate will try to revive a proposal to let mothers keep Medicaid coverage for a year after giving birth, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said Monday. The state allows two months of postpartum coverage. Advocates for low-income women say longer coverage by the government health insurance program could reduce Mississippi’s high rate of maternal mortality. (Pettus, 3/14)

The Washington Post:
Mississippi Lawmakers Just Killed A Bill That Would Expand Postpartum Care

Laurie Bertram Roberts is relieved her postpartum complications happened when she lived in Indiana, a state with more expansive Medicaid options for pregnant women. If they had happened in Mississippi, where she lives now, she worries she might have died, she said. During her second pregnancy, in 1996, Roberts said the incision site for her Caesarean section got infected about six weeks after she gave birth — a problem that antibiotics could clear up, she added, but that might have been life-threatening without treatment. And during her fifth pregnancy in 2002, she went to her doctor for migraine treatment, she said, only to find out that the high blood pressure that had developed during her pregnancy lasted for months after giving birth. It was so high that her doctor warned her that if they hadn’t caught it, she could have had a stroke, Roberts said. (Higgins, 3/14)

In other news about Medicaid —

The Washington Post:
Millions Of Vulnerable Americans Likely To Fall Off Medicaid Once The Federal Public Health Emergency Ends 

As many as 16 million low-income Americans, including millions of children, are destined to fall off Medicaid when the nation’s public health emergency ends, as states face a herculean mission to sort out who no longer belongs on rolls that have swollen to record levels during the pandemic. The looming disruption is a little-noticed side effect of the coronavirus crisis, and it is stoking fears among some on Medicaid and their advocates that vulnerable people who survived the pandemic will risk suddenly living without health coverage. For the Biden administration — which will make the decision on when to lift the health emergency — there is the potential political stain of presiding over a surge of poor, newly uninsured Americans, depending on how things go once states resume checking which Medicaid beneficiaries still qualify. (3/14)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Stacey Abrams Makes A Personal Case For Medicaid Expansion

Stacey Abrams kicked off her first day on the campaign trail in front of a shuttered hospital in rural Cuthbert with a vow to expand Medicaid. She ended it atop a stage in west Atlanta where she sharpened her message before a cheering crowd of hundreds of supporters. Much like her 2018 campaign for governor, the Democrat’s central argument hinged on expanding the federal program, which Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republicans contend would be too costly and inflexible in the long term. And just like in 2018, she used unsparing language to describe her Republican opponent, casting Kemp as “too lazy or too inept” to effectively lead the state as it struggles with mounting economic challenges. His Republican challenger, David Perdue, went unmentioned. (Bluestein, 3/15)

AP:
Ex-Ohio Gov. Kasich Among Out-Of-State Speakers On Medicaid 

North Carolina legislators weighing whether to expand Medicaid are getting advice from people who understand how it’s been done in Republican-leaning or closely divided states. Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich heads a lineup of out-of-state speakers for a General Assembly study committee meeting on Tuesday in Raleigh. (3/15)

KHN:
Want Vulnerable Californians To Have Healthier Pregnancies? Doulas Say The State Must Pay Up

This was supposed to be the year that low-income Californians could hire a doula to guide them through pregnancy and advocate for them in the hospital. But the new benefit for people enrolled in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid health insurance program, has been delayed twice as the state and doulas — nonmedical workers who help parents before, during, and after birth — haggle over how much they should get paid. (Bluth, 3/15)

And on Medicare —

The Boston Globe:
Medicare Takes Center Stage In New Push To Hold Down Prescription Drug Prices

Two months after Medicare refused to cover most patients eligible for a costly new Alzheimer’s treatment, called Aduhelm, the move has sparked a battle over how much the federal health insurance program can afford to pay for biotech therapies that treat millions of older Americans. Some are now warning the finances of Medicare, which insures 62.7 million US residents age 65 and older, may be on a collision course with a fast-expanding biopharma industry that has built a business model around charging sky-high prices for innovative medicines. “This was a wake-up call,” said Alicia Munnell, director of Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, who coauthored a new report on the financial implications of Aduhelm for the Medicare program. (Weisman, 3/14)

KHN:
Medicare Advantage Plans Send Pals To Seniors’ Homes For Companionship — And Profits 

Widowed and usually living alone, Gloria Bailey walks with a cane after two knee replacement surgeries and needs help with housekeeping. So she was thrilled last summer when her Medicare Advantage plan, SummaCare, began sending a worker to her house in Akron, Ohio, to mop floors, clean dishes, and help with computer problems. Some days, they would spend the two-hour weekly visit just chatting at her kitchen table. “I love it,” she said of the free benefit. (Galewitz, 3/15)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.