Hundreds of recent moms will obtain prolonged Medicaid protection below laws proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and handed by the Alaska Legislature on Wednesday.
The Alaska Home of Representatives voted 35-3 to approve Senate Invoice 58, which now returns to the Senate for a procedural vote earlier than being despatched to Dunleavy’s desk for last approval.
In a separate motion, the Home additionally authorised a everlasting extension to the state’s renewable power grant fund. Home lawmakers had beforehand authorised a 10-year extension, and the Senate modified that to an indefinite extension, requiring Home concurrence. Nobody objected to the change.
With two weeks remaining within the legislative session, state lawmakers have now handed eight payments by means of each the Home and Senate.
Senate Invoice 58, the postpartum Medicaid extension, is a governor-driven precedence, highlighted on this 12 months’s State of the State handle.
When signed into legislation, it would prolong Medicaid protection for brand new moms to 12 months after the tip of a being pregnant. The present finish is 60 days postpartum.
The change will stop new moms from dropping well being care, even when they lapse from the Medicaid program.
The extension covers all new moms inside 225% of the federal poverty line; the Senate-passed model of the invoice lined ladies inside 175% of the poverty line, however Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks, proposed an modification that elevated the determine.
“I imagine that this invoice is likely one of the most dear and impactful issues we will do for pregnant mothers on this state,” he mentioned earlier than the ultimate Home vote on Wednesday.
The change isn’t anticipated to be an impediment within the Senate, which should approve the modification. No date has been set for the Senate vote.
Legislators repeatedly famous throughout committee debate that maternal mortality charges in Alaska are rising, and laws like Senate Invoice 58 might assist issues.
The federal authorities made the extension an possibility for states below the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia have already carried out the extension, in accordance with KFF.
The invoice will enhance state Medicaid prices by $14.4 million per 12 months and has a startup price of $1.4 million, the Division of Well being estimates.
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