Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham (center) speaks to Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Pleasant Grove, in the Alabama Senate on May 9, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Coleman-Madison’s bill would provide low-income people presumptive Medicaid coverage for up to 60 days for prenatal care before their application is formally approved. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama Senate Thursday approved a bill that would provide prenatal coverage for low-income people.
SB 102, sponsored by Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison, D-Birmingham, passed the chamber 31-0. It would provide presumptive Medicaid coverage for up to 60 days to pregnant people before their application for the program is formally approved.
“Presumptive eligibility is for uninsured women who would likely already be on Medicaid once they become pregnant … but in the meantime, they can start receiving the care that they need in the first trimester so that they can have healthy babies,” Coleman-Madison said on the Senate floor.
The bill would provide a 60-day period of Medicaid eligibility per pregnancy. It would also ban Medicaid from retroactively denying the care received during the presumptive period.
The Alabama House of Representatives last week approved a similar bill sponsored by Rep. Marilyn Lands, D-Huntsville. Coleman added an amendment to sunset the initiative in October 2028, to mirror Lands bill.
According to a fiscal note, the federal government would cover about 73% of the estimated $1 million annual cost.
Alabama has long struggled with high maternal mortality rates and poor infant health outcomes, with the infant mortality rate increasing to 7.8 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2023, the highest since 2016. Additionally, 143 of the 1,112 babies born on average each week in Alabama are born preterm, defined by the CDC as births that happen before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Of those, 22 babies a week are born “very preterm,” or under 35 weeks gestation. The earlier a baby is born, the higher the risks for breathing problems, feeding difficulties, cerebral palsy, developmental delay, or vision and hearing problems.
Coleman-Madison’s bill moves to the House. The Senate has not yet scheduled a committee hearing on Lands’ bill.
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