Giving black moms health insurance may save their babies’ lives
“America has an alarmingly high rate of infant mortality compared to other high-income countries. But the odds of death are particularly frightening for African Americans: Compared to white babies, black babies are more than twice as likely to die in infancy. A new study points to a possible solution to this racial health gap: Make sure women have access to health insurance. The paper, newly published in JAMA, focused on two birth outcomes — prematurity and low birth weight — which account for about 36 percent of all infant deaths. The researchers looked at how those outcomes changed after Medicaid expansion, comparing 17 states that didn’t expand Medicaid to 18 states and the District of Columbia that did in the years 2011 to 2016. (Today, 37 states have adopted Medicaid expansion.)”