"Momnibus" bill would expand insurance access for pregnant women, boost maternal health

Rebecca Grapevine, Louisville Courier Journal
·3 min read
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FRANKFORT — A wide-ranging bill nicknamed "Momnibus" aims to improve Kentucky's maternal health by expanding insurance access for pregnant people and improving support for breastfeeding.

The bill, HB 10, grew out of a working group created by female lawmakers concerned about the state's poor maternal health outcomes, said its chief sponsor, Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, during a Wednesday press conference.

"Addressing Kentucky's high maternal mortality rate and saving mothers and babies is obviously a priority for all of us," Moser said, referring to the bipartisan group of legislators who joined her.

Kentucky has the sixth highest maternal death rate in the country, with 38.4 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to data from 2018 until 2021 analyzed by independent health think tank KFF.

Many of those deaths, she said, are caused by substance use disorders and a lack of access to prenatal care.

Expanded insurance coverage and more support for breastfeeding

HB 10 would also designate pregnancy as a qualifying life event so that pregnant people could get health insurance.

That would allow uninsured Kentuckians who do not qualify for Medicaid to get coverage for pregnancy from any health insurer, as well as mandate insurers cover pregnancy, said Rep. Sarah Stalker, D-Louisville.

Other things the bill would do:

  • Require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to study doula certification programs and, by Dec. 1, make recommendations about the programs to a legislative committee on health services. Doulas are workers who provide support to people giving birth.

  • Expand the services provided by the state's Health Access Nurturing Development (HAND), a program where trained home visitors help expecting and new parents. If passed, HAND home health visitors could also provide lactation help and information on safe sleeping for babies.

  • Allow the HAND program to expand from in-person to tele-service delivery, which would help new mothers in rural parts of the state, Moser said.

  • Create a Kentucky Lifeline for Moms so that healthcare providers can find services for mothers with mental illness and intellectual disability. The state has already received a $750,000 grant to implement the program, she said, but is not yet certain how much funding is needed to support other measures in the bill.

Bipartisan support but division over abortion

Moser and other lawmakers said the bill grew out of bipartisan work by female lawmakers across the state.

However, the wide gulf between abortion rights and anti-abortion lawmakers was felt when Moser invited Addia Wuchner, executive director of the Kentucky Right to Life Association, to speak at the end of the press conference.

That prompted most of the assembled Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Rachel Roberts from Lexington and Rep. Lisa Willner from Louisville, to quietly walk out of the room.

"If we're going to force people to have children when they are not prepared to, when they are not ready to, when they are not interested in the family, it is critical that we give them the access to the health insurance," said Stalker, one of the few Democrats who remained after the press conference, about why she chose to work on the bill despite differences over abortion.

"It doesn't help me and it doesn't help Kentucky, you know, Kentuckians at large and particularly women to dig in my heels," Stalker told The Courier Journal.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: HB 10: Momnibus bill aids health of Kentucky women