New York’s Special Enrollment for Pregnancy Increased Prenatal Coverage

The establishment of a special enrollment period for pregnancy in New York state’s health insurance marketplace is linked with an increase in marketplace coverage and a decrease in uninsurance among eligible pregnant people, according to study results published in JAMA Health Forum.

“In 2016, New York became the first state to establish a pregnancy special enrollment period, later followed by 5 additional states and the District of Columbia,” wrote corresponding author Erica L. Eliason, PhD, MPH, and coauthor Maria W. Steenland, SD, of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in a research letter. “We investigated the association between establishing a pregnancy special enrollment period and prenatal insurance coverage in New York.”

The study included 13,753 births, of which 1167 were in New York and 12,586 in 17 control states. 

After New York’s enactment of the pregnancy special enrollment policy, unadjusted estimates of prenatal marketplace coverage in the state increased from 3.3% to 8.6%, according to the study, and uninsurance decreased from 1.5% to 0.6%. Upon adjustment, the special enrollment period was associated with an increase of 6.3 percentage points in the prenatal marketplace and a decrease of 1.4 percentage points in uninsurance compared with control states.

“This analysis can inform policy debates about how to improve pregnancy insurance coverage, care, and health outcomes in the 18 states that can establish their own exchanges’ enrollment periods,” the authors advised.

Reference:
Eliason EL, Steenland MW. Association of New York State’s marketplace special enrollment period for pregnancy with prenatal insurance coverage. JAMA Health Forum. Published online January 6, 2023. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2022.4907