Legislature extends Medicaid coverage for new mothers

The Legislature passed a bill Friday extending Medicaid coverage from two months to 12 months for a couple thousand new mothers a year.

Senate Bill 58, proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy, is intended to prevent gaps in health care coverage and to address the state’s high and rising maternal mortality rate.

State Department of Health officials told lawmakers that 51% of births in Alaska are covered by Medicaid; those new mothers would benefit from the legislation.

The Senate passed the final bill 19-1 on Friday. The House passed the legislation five days earlier on a 35-3 tally. The only no votes in the House and Senate came from two Kenai Peninsula and two Matanuska-Susitna Borough Republicans.

Sen. Donny Olson, of rural Golovin, said in April that extending Medicaid coverage for new mothers was about critical health care, particularly in rural Alaska. Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer, told lawmakers that rural Alaska and minorities are overly represented in state statistics for maternal mortality rates.

Currently, the state provides Medicaid coverage for mothers who are within 200% of the federal poverty line. Freshman Rep. Will Stapp, a Fairbanks Republican, successfully introduced an amendment to cover recipients who earn up to 225%, which was estimated to increase the number of mothers eligible for coverage by 450, to more than 2,000 per year.

“I believe that this bill is one of the most valuable and impactful things we can do for pregnant moms in this state,” Stapp said on the House floor last week.

Congress passed legislation earlier in the year that allowed states to permanently extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers to a full year. More than 30 states have since extended postpartum Medicaid coverage.

The extended coverage is estimated to cost the state of Alaska $4 million per year, and will start being available July 1 next year.