NEW REPORT: Medicaid Expansion Tied to Reduced Maternal Mortality, Healthier Moms and Babies - Families USA Skip to Main Content
05.20.2025 / Press Release

NEW REPORT: Medicaid Expansion Tied to Reduced Maternal Mortality, Healthier Moms and Babies

As Congress seeks historically large health cuts, new study shows how Medicaid matters to the most vulnerable — and expansions to broader populations help, not hurt.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new report from Families USA shows Medicaid coverage is critical to the health of moms and babies, and the states that have expanded Medicaid coverage to more people see lower maternal death rates than those that haven’t.

This report comes as House Republicans are rushing forward with a budget bill that would cut $715 billion from Medicaid and cause more than 8 million Americans to be forced off their Medicaid coverage, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The new study undermines the argument that cuts to expansion populations of low-income adults without children would not impact vulnerable populations like mothers and babies, and makes clear that access to care and coverage before pregnancy improves maternal health outcomes during and after pregnancy.

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Families USA compared maternal death rates in Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states and found:

  • 35% higher maternal mortality rates in non-expansion states (2019–2023).
  • 46% increase in maternal deaths in non-expansion states, compared with a 21% increase experienced by expansion states over the same period (2020–2021).
  • 51% higher rates of maternal death in non-expansion states (2021).

“Simply put, Medicaid is one of our most powerful tools to protect women’s health at their most vulnerable moments, save women’s lives, and support them in their postpartum recovery and to set their babies up for a healthy childhood. To address the shameful level of deaths of mothers and babies during pregnancy, and the shocking disparities with women of color, we need to support and invest in Medicaid, not propose its biggest cut in history,” said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA. “Yet, House Republicans are rushing forward with this bill that would take a wrecking ball to the health care system on which we all rely, devastating our ability to fight this maternal health crisis. Our health care system is stronger when everyone is included. When people get care before they are pregnant, when providers have more paying patients and can provide primary and preventive care, that helps everyone, and Medicaid is central to that mission.”

“Our nation’s moms are in crisis. At a time when maternal mortality rates, especially for Black and Indigenous women, are already far too high, cutting Medicaid is not just irresponsible, it’s dangerous. Medicaid is a lifeline for nearly half of all births in the United States. Slashing it means putting moms and babies at greater risk. We should be expanding access to care, not ripping it away. Moms are watching, and we’re rising to protect our families,” said Monifa Bandele, senior vice president and chief operating office at MomsRising.

Nearly 40% of women of reproductive age have health care coverage because of Medicaid expansion and are at risk of losing access to care and coverage if severe cuts to the program are enacted. In addition:

  • More than 16 million women of reproductive age are covered by Medicaid.
  • Medicaid is the single largest payer of maternity care in the U.S., covering more than 42% of all births.
  • In just five years, expanding Medicaid up to 138% of the federal poverty level reduced the uninsured rate among women ages 18–64 by nearly half, from 19.3% to 10.8%.
  • Medicaid expansion is associated with a 17% reduction in hospitalization during the first 60 days postpartum.

Families USA, the longtime health consumer advocate, is continually advocating to protect Medicaid from severe cuts that will result in millions of Americans losing access to health care.

For previous statements and additional resources, visit Families USA’s newsroom and fact sheets on how work reporting requirements would undermine access to Medicaid, how cuts harm families and communities, and the overall importance of Medicaid to people, the economy and the health care system.