Maternal Health Backers Seek to Add Bill to Year-End Package (1)

A pair of House Democrats are leading a year-end push to bolster maternal health as part of the next spending bill.

Democratic Reps. Robin Kelly (Ill.) and Lauren Underwood (Ill.) are gathering support for a package of maternal health bills (H.R. 959) that includes mandatory year-long Medicaid coverage after someone gives birth.

Democrats have gotten pieces of the package signed into law this Congress, including funds for states to voluntarily extend postpartum coverage. Many provisions were slated to be part of a partisan domestic policy bill that eventually became the Inflation Reduction Act, but weren’t included in the ...