Virginia Organizing strongly supports the change Virginia DMAS has proposed to make in its "FAMIS MOMS and FAMIS Select" 1115 demonstration, which would extend postpartum coverage an additional 10 months, from 60 days to 12 months, for women with incomes between 138 and 205% FPL.

Virginia Organizing is a statewide grassroots non-partisan organization that brings people together to make change in our communities. We have been working on expanding health care coverage for the past 20 years and dismantling systemic racism since our founding in 1995. We recognize that racism itself is a public health crisis. One of the ways this crisis affects us is in the high maternal mortality rate among Black women in Virginia.

In its 2021 session, the General Assembly passed Del. Lachrese Aird’s resolution that racism is a public health crisis, and this expansion of Medicaid postpartum coverage is an excellent first step for Virginia DMAS to take to respond to that declaration.

Extending postpartum coverage to Medicaid recipients for a full year will make a big difference in maternal mortality. In a 2019 report, DMAS presented evidence that incomplete health care coverage before or after pregnancy contributed to maternal mortality in Virginia. Some 45 percent of women who died with a chronic condition had public insurance that only provided coverage during pregnancy and the six weeks postpartum, and over 62 percent of these deaths occurred between 43 and 365 days after the pregnancy ended.

In the last decade, there has been a rise in maternal mortality, and Black women in Virginia have been 1.3 to 2.9 times more likely to die during pregnancy or within six weeks of the end of pregnancy than the total population. Extending health coverage -- along with other targeted policies -- can help eliminate these racial disparities in maternal health outcomes for Black women.

Furthermore, despite the fact that approximately one third of maternal deaths in the United States take place one week to 12 months after delivery, many women lose coverage very soon after giving birth due to the limitation in mandatory Medicaid coverage to a 60- day postpartum coverage period.

We strongly urge the Commonwealth to adopt this proposed change. Thank you.