Sponsors (12)
The bill seeks to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality by expanding postpartum coverage, workforce supports, targeted grants, and data systems—improving access for low‑income and underserved birthing people—but does so at meaningful fiscal and administrative cost, with risks around provider capacity, privacy, and uneven state implementation.
Medicaid and CHIP enrollees who give birth will get continuous postpartum coverage (including guaranteed dental coverage during pregnancy and the first postpartum year), improving access to follow‑up, mental‑health, and preventive care for birthing people.
Pregnant and postpartum people in underserved communities will gain expanded, culturally concordant doula services and a more diverse maternal‑care workforce through funded training, scholarships, and recruitment, which can reduce complications and disparities.
Public health agencies, states, and communities will have better data (standardized death reporting, disaggregated outcomes, and a national analysis of maternal health needs/historical spending) to detect mortality surges, identify gaps, and target investments to high‑need populations.
State Medicaid programs and the federal government will face increased costs from mandatory extended postpartum coverage, new oral‑health benefits, workforce supports, and grant programs, which could raise state budgets, federal outlays, and taxpayer burdens.
States, hospitals, and providers will incur added administrative and reporting burdens (standardized death reporting, stratified outcome reporting, grant reporting, hospital impact analyses), increasing staffing and operational costs and diverting time from clinical care.
Coverage and benefit mandates may not translate into timely access because provider capacity (dental, behavioral health, doulas, obstetric clinicians) is limited in rural and underserved areas, so increased demand could outstrip supply.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Funds state perinatal collaboratives, expands postpartum Medicaid/CHIP coverage and oral health benefits, grows doula training, pilots rural mobile obstetric units, requires hospital notice for obstetric unit closures, and raises tobacco taxes.
Official title: To improve Federal efforts with respect to the prevention of maternal mortality, and for other purposes.
Introduced November 25, 2025 by Robin L. Kelly · Last progress November 25, 2025
Creates a set of federal programs, grants, Medicaid/CHIP coverage changes, reporting requirements, and pilot projects aimed at reducing maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity. It funds state perinatal quality collaboratives, doula workforce development, rural mobile obstetric units, requires hospitals to notify HHS before closing obstetric units, and directs a federal analysis of maternal health needs and Federal spending. It also makes major excise tax changes to tobacco and other nicotine products to standardize rates and create a new taxable category for single‑use smokeless units. The bill authorizes multi‑year funding streams (FY2026–FY2030) for the maternal health programs, appropriates funds for doula training in FY2026, amends Medicaid and CHIP to require oral health coverage and 12‑month postpartum coverage, and adds new federal reporting and data requirements for pilots and state programs. It pairs health system and workforce interventions with a separate set of tax code changes affecting tobacco product taxation and FDA‑designated tobacco products.