Nearly five months after a new law to make prenatal care more accessible to low-income women was supposed to go into effect, its fate remains unclear.
The state is still in negotiations with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – the federal agency responsible for approving the state plan – according to Matt Westerfield, spokesperson for the Mississippi Division of Medicaid. CMS is supposed to take no more than 90 days to approve or reject a plan, but that 90-day clock has been suspended indefinitely since issues have been raised with legislation Mississippi lawmakers wrote last session.
Presumptive eligibility for pregnant women allows temporary and immediate Medicaid coverage for low-income expectant mothers while they wait for their official Medicaid application to be approved – a process that can take months.
Strict Medicaid eligibility requirements in Mississippi mean that a majority of low-income women are only eligible for Medicaid once they become pregnant. If a woman applies when she finds out she’s pregnant, that means a lengthy application process could cut well into her pregnancy and delay her seeking prenatal care, which is proven to lead to poor outcomes such as preterm birth – in which Mississippi leads the nation .