Improving Postpartum Health through Increased Medicaid Coverage after Childbirth

This study will examine the impact of the Arkansas Medicaid expansion on full-year postpartum use of outpatient care, emergency department visits and inpatient stays for severe maternal morbidities, and test whether the Medicaid expansion reduced racial disparities in these outcomes. Results are expected to inform deliberations regarding proposed state and federal legislation to provide up to one-year of pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage for postpartum women.