Texas mothers on Medicaid could keep their health coverage for half a year after giving birth, instead of just two months, under a bill passed by the Senate early Thursday.
Maternal health advocates said the bill — originally pitched as a one-year extension — could reduce the state’s maternal mortality rate and offer vital help to mothers with conditions like postpartum depression or health complications in the months after giving birth.
Medicaid covers low-income women from pregnancy until two months after delivery, although a third of maternal deaths have happened 43 days or more postpartum in Texas. Black women die disproportionately while pregnant or after delivery, according to state reports.