Key Points Question When prenatal care coverage is an included benefit in Emergency Medicaid—a program of restricted Medicaid services for recent immigrants who have low income and are pregnant—is there an improvement in postpartum contraception and a subsequent reduction in short interpregnancy interval births? Findings This cohort study of 26 586 births to women enrolled in Emergency Medicaid found that when Medicaid expanded coverage to include prenatal care for these women, receipt of recommended prenatal care screenings and vaccines rapidly increased. Prenatal care coverage expansion was not associated with a meaningful improvement in postpartum contraceptive use or short interpregnancy interval births. Meaning These findings suggest that expansion of prenatal care coverage, without postpartum care or ongoing coverage, improved receipt of evidence-based prenatal care, but guideline-concordant prenatal care alone was not sufficient to significantly improve other maternal and infant health outcomes among Emergency Medicaid recipients.

The rate of cesarean birth in the United States is widely acknowledged to be too high. 1,2 Cesarean birth is medically necessary in some clinical scenarios and can be a life-saving procedure, but it also carries increased risks when used without a medical indication and/or at an early gestational age. These include risks for infants (eg, respiratory distress syndrome, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit 3,4) and birthing people (eg, infection, hysterectomy, venous thromboembolism 5-7). There are racial disparities in the rate

No abstract

No abstract