This Mother’s Day, new mothers in Florida received an unexpected gift thanks to the recently passed American Rescue Plan (ARP), the federal relief law that provides for an additional 10 months of postpartum health care through Medicaid for women who give birth.
The federal relief package opened up new opportunities for millions of people who have been struggling through the pandemic without health care, income, and jobs to get the help they need to recover from COVID-19.
In addition to extended unemployment benefits, the ARP provides more money for public education, free COVID testing, vaccinations, and direct cash payments to 85% of households. It also provides more funding for Medicaid services like coverage for the uninsured, expanded home-based and community care, and maternal health care. This session, Florida lawmakers used the additional funding to expand Medicaid coverage for new mothers in the state budget from 60 days to a full year.
That increase is great news for mothers and their babies, particularly for low-income families and women of color who are more likely to have complications in pregnancy and childbirth than their white counterparts. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Black and Native American women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women. Black women have the highest rate of maternal mortality of any group.
More health care for others is something new to celebrate this Mother’s Day and a long overdue milestone. I know from personal experience that Medicaid has always been a critical program for moms and their babies. Over half the births in Florida are paid for by Medicaid. I was a recipient of Medicaid when I was pregnant with my first child and know firsthand the limitations of 60 day coverage. No new mother should have to worry about losing her health care just at the moment she may need it most.
Increased federal funding for Medicaid will extend the 60-day period to a full year. That is a great first step toward ensuring healthy babies and decreasing complications and deaths for mothers and their babies.
It’s a positive step forward, but Florida still has a long way to go. Moms need coverage at every stage of life, not just the first year after birth. In fact, research shows when parents have consistent health coverage, it increases the overall health and economic security for the entire family.
There’s never been a better time to address the gap in coverage that has left 900,000 Florida adults with no insurance — half are women. The federal relief law provides funding for states to expand coverage with little cost to the state. Yet despite the benefits, the urgency of the pandemic, and the extra federal funding, Florida’s lawmakers are ending another session by denying coverage for those who need it most once again, putting politics ahead of our health care.
In his first address to Congress, President Joe Biden said, “health care should be a right, not a privilege in America.”
He’s right. No one should be denied quality health care simply because of their race, ethnic background, gender, where they live or how much income they make. Nor should Floridians suffer without the health services they need because politicians care more about ideology than they do about constituents. There is no way Florida or any other state will “build back better” while leaving millions of people behind. It’s time to guarantee affordable health care for everyone.
Monique Knowles is a mother in Oviedo.
