Postpartum Medicaid Eligibility Expansions and Postpartum Health Measures

Abstract

Maternal mortality and morbidity in the United States are high compared with those in similar countries, and racial/ethnic disparities exist, with many of these events occurring in the later postpartum period. Proposed federal and recently enacted state policy interventions extend pregnancy Medicaid from covering 60 days to a full year postpartum. This study estimates the association between maintaining Medicaid eligibility in the later postpartum period (relative to only having pregnancy Medicaid eligibility) with postpartum checkup attendance and depressive symptoms using regression analysis, overall and stratified by race/ethnicity. People with postpartum Medicaid eligibility were 1.0%–1.4% more likely to attend a postpartum checkup relative to those with only pregnancy Medicaid eligibility overall, primarily driven by a 3.8%–4.0% higher likelihood among Hispanic postpartum people. Conversely, postpartum Medicaid is associated with a 2.2%–2.3% lower likelihood of postpartum checkup attendance for Black postpartum people. Postpartum eligibility is also associated with a 9.7%–11.6% lower likelihood of self-reported depressive symptoms compared with only pregnancy Medicaid eligibility for White postpartum people only. Postpartum Medicaid eligibility is associated with some improvements in maternal health care utilization and mental health, but differences by race and ethnicity imply that inequitable systems and structures that cannot be overcome by insurance alone may also play an important role in postpartum health.