Joint Letter of Support for the Helping Medicaid Offer Maternity Services (MOMS) Act of 2019

The Helping Medicaid Offer Maternity Services (MOMS) Act of 2019, introduced by Rep. Robin Kelly, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, and co-led by Representatives Michael Burgess, MD (R-TX), Buddy Carter (R-GA), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Lauren Underwood (D-IL), is a first step in addressing maternal mortality in this Congress.

By incentivizing states to extend Medicaid coverage from sixty days to a full 12 months postpartum, the Helping MOMS Act will help moms seek the care they need and protect their health, as well as the health of their baby. We applaud this historic bipartisan action to position us for more robust policy change to address maternal health and birth justice–starting with access.

Accessing health services for 12 months postpartum is paramount and foundational, and the Helping MOMS Act will pave the way for states to ensure that every birthing family has access to the health care they need during this critical period. However, we are greatly concerned that the present iteration of the bill provides no increase in the federal matching rate, which would facilitate states’ adoption of this coverage extension opportunity. As COVID-19 ravages state budgets, this increase is vital to support the ability of statewide Medicaid plans to effectively provide this much-needed coverage option.