Sponsors (42)
The bill seeks to improve awareness, provider capability, and potential access to pelvic floor care for postpartum women—particularly Medicaid beneficiaries—through guidance, training, and modest federal funding, but its impact depends on voluntary state adoption and brings risks of higher state costs, administrative burdens, patient out-of-pocket expenses, and privacy concerns.
Postpartum women — especially Medicaid beneficiaries — are more likely to gain access to pelvic floor exams and pelvic health physical therapy because the bill combines federal guidance, patient education, and outreach to increase awareness and recommended coverage.
Health care professionals and health systems will receive training and suggested diagnosis/coding guidance that should improve identification, diagnosis, and treatment of pelvic floor conditions.
The bill provides modest federal funding (authorized $2 million per year, 2026–2030) to implement education, training, and outreach activities to support the program.
If states do not adopt the non‑binding guidance, many postpartum Medicaid recipients may see little or no change in coverage or access.
Expanding coverage or incentivizing services could increase state Medicaid/CHIP program costs, pressuring state budgets and potentially forcing trade-offs in other services or taxes.
Increased demand for pelvic health physical therapy and related services could raise out-of-pocket costs for patients without adequate coverage, disproportionately affecting low-income postpartum women.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Directs HHS guidance and a GAO study on Medicaid/CHIP coverage of pelvic health services for prenatal/postpartum care and establishes a CDC education program with $2M/year (FY2026–2030).
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue guidance on coverage under the Medicaid program under title XIX of the Social Security Act of certain pelvic health services furnished during the postpartum period, and for other purposes.
Introduced June 23, 2025 by Donald J. Bacon · Last progress June 23, 2025
Requires HHS to issue guidance within one year on Medicaid and CHIP coverage of pelvic health services during the prenatal and postpartum period, and directs the GAO to report to Congress on Medicaid coverage gaps for postpartum services. Creates a new CDC postpartum pelvic health education and training program (with CDC leading in collaboration with HRSA and others) to educate clinicians and postpartum women about pelvic floor exams and pelvic health physical therapy, and authorizes $2 million annually for FY2026–2030 to support the program.