Medicaid has long played an important role in providing maternity-related services for pregnant women, paying for nearly half of all births in the United States. Birth costs also constitute a sizeable share of hospitalization-related Medicaid spending; in 2012, deliveries and newborn care accounted for about one quarter (27 percent) of total Medicaid spending for inpatient hospital care.
This issue brief examines access to prenatal care and differences between the likelihood of cesarean delivery and preterm and low-birthweight births for women with Medicaid, private insurance, and those who are uninsured, based on data from 33 states participating in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. Our analysis also considers the sources of coverage for pregnant women at different stages in their pregnancies, as well as their demographic characteristics and underlying health conditions.
This issue brief provides results using the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System. More up-to-date research and information on Medicaid’s role in maternal health were published in the June 2020 Report to Congress, Medicaid’s Role in Maternal Health, and in the March 2021 Report to Congress on Medicaid CHIP, Advancing Maternal and Infant Health by Extending the Postpartum Coverage Period.