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Government shutdown looms after Trump-backed bill fails; Environmental groups sue CA Air Resources Board over biogas credits; NY elected officials work to electrify municipal buildings; Need a mental health boost? Talking hot dog is here.

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President-elect Trump repeats his threats to jail Jan. 6th committee members, while also putting a stop-gap spending plan in jeopardy. A court removes Fani Willis from Trump's Georgia election interference case. The FAA restricts drones in New Jersey, and a Federal Reserve rate cut shakes markets.

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Georgetown Report: WV Medicaid Expansion Good for Moms, Babies

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Thursday, May 23, 2019   

CHARLESTON, W. Va. - New research has found that West Virginia's expansion of Medicaid has brought huge health improvements for pregnant women and their babies.

In 2013, according to the report from Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families, nearly one out of four women of childbearing age in the state lacked insurance. Now that number has fallen by more than two thirds.

Sharon Carte, board president for West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, said expansion has meant a huge decline in infant deaths, here and around the country.

"According to this report, the states that have adopted an expansion have seen drops in their infant mortality rate," she said, "reductions that are 50% greater than those states that did not adopt it. That's a really big deal."

The report, available on the center's website, was released in conjunction with the March of Dimes and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

One serious and surprising issue for U.S. health care has been an unexpected rise in the number of women dying in childbirth. However, Joan Alker, the Georgetown Center's executive director, states that are getting women into the Medicaid system actually are reducing maternal mortality rates. She said it's the best way to address what she called a crisis.

"We are really the only very developed country that's seeing that, and that's very troubling," she said. "For states that have not expanded Medicaid, Medicaid expansion is clearly the single most important step a state could take to address this crisis."

According to West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, expansion also has proven to be good for getting pregnant women who are addicted to drugs into the substance-abuse treatment they need. The group has said that's better both for the women and their children.

The Georgetown report is online at ccf.georgetown.edu.

Disclosure: Georgetown University Center for Children & Families contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Health Issues. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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