Medicaid Coverage of Perinatal Services: Results of a National Survey

Abstract:

In the late 1980s, the states and federal government enacted a series of eligibility and program expansions to improve access to prenatal care for low-income women. Largely due to the success of these expansions, Medicaid has become one of the major funders of prenatal care and delivery services for women in the United States, paying for approximately one-third of all births in the nation. Shifts in the financing and delivery of care, primarily through managed care, have implications for access to and the delivery of perinatal services under Medicaid.

To identify how perinatal services operate under Medicaid across the nation, the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation contracted with Health Systems Research, Inc. to conduct a national survey of state Medicaid programs to document state policies and practices on coverage of perinatal care under a changing Medicaid system.