Postpartum Medicaid Coverage Extended During COVID-19: Resources for Your Practice

As part of the COVID-19 response efforts, Congress passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act on March 18, 2020. This bill includes enhanced federal funding for state Medicaid agencies to provide care over the course of the national emergency. As a condition of receiving this enhanced federal funding, states are expected to comply with multiple requirements, including a requirement to provide continuous coverage. The continuous coverage requirement is designed to ensure that people do not lose their health insurance during the pandemic. Importantly, the continuous coverage requirement barring states from disenrolling beneficiaries from the Medicaid program applies to women enrolled in Medicaid on the basis of being pregnant. This means that states are prohibited from kicking women off of the program at 60 days postpartum during the course of the COVID-19 national emergency. Instead, women whose pregnancies are covered by Medicaid are now able to receive continuous coverage throughout the pandemic.

To help spread the word that women who would typically lose eligibility for Medicaid 60 days after the end of pregnancy are not at risk of losing coverage during COVID-19, ACOG has created several practice management resources for obstetrician-gynecologists. These resources, which include a flyer to pass out to patients in your practice and graphics to use on social media, are designed to help inform patients that their coverage will continue during the COVID-19 emergency. These resources should be used to facilitate conversations with patients about their health care coverage and about accessing care beyond 60 days postpartum. Each resource is available in English and Spanish.

ACOG will update these resources and provide additional information to our members when necessary, such as when the national emergency is scheduled to be lifted. Importantly, when the national public health emergency is lifted, Medicaid coverage will continue through the end of the month in which the emergency declaration expires.

ACOG will continue working with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Congress to protect access to postpartum care in the Medicaid program past the 60-day cutoff, even once the COVID-19 emergency ends. Read more on ACOG’s evidence-based advocacy on extending Medicaid coverage for pregnant women beyond 60 days postpartum.