Makayla Robinson is seven months pregnant, jobless, living in a Dallas maternity home, and dependent on Medicaid, which may terminate next spring.
Medicaid supports new moms in Texas for two months. The federal pandemic public health emergency that President Biden prolonged until April covers Robinson, 22, and others for up to a year.
Robinson Wondered About the Next
She stated that she couldn’t see a doctor. I’m broke. Medicaid assisted.”
After the emergency insurance ends, Robinson’s Medicaid coverage is limited by Texas’s longstanding rejection of Obamacare, which includes expanded Medicaid.
It’s created an unpleasant dynamic:
Texas and almost a dozen other Republican states have avoided extending Medicaid for pregnant women, but many of them have also limited abortion, making more new moms require coverage.
Also read: Efforts to restrict abortion in South Carolina fail
Republican legislators in Texas, Mississippi, Wyoming, and other red states must decide whether to limit abortion or support postpartum Medicaid expansion with anti-abortion organisations and Democrats.
“There’s a conversation among Republicans and anti-choice people about what we should do to help mothers?”
Kaiser Family Foundation Assistant director’s Statement
In the wake of increasing state abortion restrictions after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling, several national antiabortion organisations that favour postpartum Medicaid expansion have suggested alternative measures to enhance assistance for pregnant women.
Steve Aden, general counsel and senior legal officer for Washington-based Americans United for Life, said, “On our side, there is an awareness and a very strong effort following Roe’s reversal toward caring for women.”
“The entire movement is seeking methods to apply state policy to help the rising number of women who will have children.”
Republicans have long controlled both houses of the Texas legislature, allowing them to establish one of the nation’s harshest abortion restrictions last year before the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Last year, the Texas House approved a one-year postpartum Medicaid expansion.
Texas Senate Includes Sen
Bryan Hughes, cut postpartum Medicaid to six months. The Biden administration denied the extension because Abbott’s Law didn’t cover abortions.
Also read: Abortion prohibitions allow the government to seize a woman’s property
At the January legislative session, Texas Right to Life and other anti-abortion organisations are pushing for a year-long postpartum Medicaid extension.
Texas Right to Life president John Seago remarked, “This proposal fits into a wider collage of pro-life measures we can adopt to support a pro-life Texas.” “We want Texas to be abortion-free and pro-life.”
“We want these women to be well and get the treatment they need.”
The conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin says that expanding Medicaid after birth could save the state money through preventive care.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/
