Sponsors (20)
The bill expands and standardizes pregnancy, postpartum, and dependent maternity coverage—improving access and continuity for pregnant people and children—while creating fiscal and administrative costs that may raise premiums, state and federal spending, and implementation burdens.
Pregnant and postpartum people on Medicaid/CHIP will keep continuous, full-benefit coverage for 12 months after birth, reducing coverage gaps and improving access to postpartum care and services.
People who become pregnant can enroll in Exchange, group, and some federal plans immediately via a pregnancy special enrollment period (and FEHBP life-event enrollment), ensuring earlier access to prenatal care and reducing out-of-pocket pregnancy costs.
Pregnant people, infants, and eligible children are protected by a preserved Medicaid/eligibility floor tied to each state's pre-2025 income thresholds, preventing post-2025 rollbacks that would reduce access.
Enacting guaranteed pregnancy and dependent maternity coverage and broader enrollment rights will likely raise premiums and employer plan costs that may be passed to consumers and employers.
States and the federal government may face materially higher Medicaid/CHIP and FEHBP spending (and attendant taxpayer costs) to fund extended eligibility and 12 months postpartum coverage.
Insurers, Exchanges, employers, FEHBP carriers, and state agencies will incur administrative, IT, and compliance costs to implement new SEPs, benefit mandates, and eligibility rules.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Requires pregnancy SEPs, mandates dependent maternity coverage, locks Medicaid pregnancy eligibility levels, and makes 12‑month postpartum Medicaid/CHIP coverage permanent.
Introduced November 20, 2025 by Bonnie Watson Coleman · Last progress November 20, 2025
Creates new pregnancy-specific enrollment rights and insurance coverage requirements and makes Medicaid/CHIP postpartum coverage permanent. Health plans on Exchanges, in the group market, and federal employee plans must allow people to enroll when they report pregnancy; group plans that cover dependents must include maternity coverage for dependent enrollees regardless of age. The bill also locks in each State’s current Medicaid income-eligibility percentage for pregnant people as of early 2025 and requires states to provide continuous full Medicaid/CHIP benefits for 12 months after pregnancy. These changes take effect in stages (most private-plan amendments apply to plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2027; Medicaid/CHIP postpartum coverage becomes mandatory one year after enactment; FEHBP changes take effect 12 months after enactment). The law preserves any state or local protections that are more generous than these new minimums.