Mississippi Has The Nation’s Worst Infant Mortality

A new Mississippi law will allow earlier Medicaid coverage for pregnant women in an effort to improve health outcomes for mothers and babies in a poor state with the worst rate of infant mortality in the U.S.

The “presumptive eligibility” legislation signed Tuesday by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves will become law July 1. It says Medicaid will pay for a pregnant woman’s outpatient medical care for up to 60 days while her application for the government-funded insurance program is being considered.

Processing Medicaid applications can take weeks, and physicians say early prenatal care is vital.

The advocacy group Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable praised the new law, which passed the Republican-controlled Legislature with bipartisan support.

“This represents a significant step forward in the effort to create better health for women and their families,” the group said in a statement.

Black infants in Mississippi were nearly twice as likely as white ones to die over the past decade, according to a report unveiled Jan. 18 by the state Department of Health.

Presumptive Medicaid eligibility during pregnancy would be based on questions about income, asked by health care providers such county health department workers. If a woman’s Medicaid application is ultimately rejected because her income is too high, Medicaid would still pay for services provided during the time of presumptive eligibility.