Dear John,

ICYMI, we featured several of the authors from our perinatal mental health & well-being theme issue during a briefing last week.

Revisit the entire event at our YouTube page, and if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to never miss any of our exciting video content!

The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act allowed states to receive federal matching funds to extend pregnancy-related Medicaid eligibility to twelve months postpartum.

In Health Affairs’ April Perinatal Mental Health & Well-Being issue, Sarah Gordon of Boston University and her team of coauthors examine associations between postpartum Medicaid expansion in Colorado and mental health care utilization among low-income people with Medicaid-paid births. 

The researchers determine that retaining postpartum coverage was significantly associated with increased use of prescription medication or outpatient mental health treatment. 

They find that “remaining in Medicaid was associated with a 20.5-percentage point increase in the rate of having at least one outpatient mental health visit or filling at least one prescription medication for anxiety or depression in the postpartum year.”

For more about the findings, check out a video abstract featuring author Sarah Gordon.

More On Medicaid Expansion

• Addressing Housing-Related Social Needs Through Medicaid: Lessons From North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunities Pilots Program by Katie Huber et al.
• Medicaid Financing Requires Reform: The North Carolina Case Study by Ann Kempski and Ge Bai
• A Health Podyssey: Sarah Gordon on Lessons from the Medicaid Continuous Enrollment Provision

Tova Walsh on Fathers' Inclusion Within The Scope of Perinatal Mental Health

Health Affairs' Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interviews Tova Walsh of the University of Wisconsin-Madison on her recent paper that explores perinatal mental health and the inclusion of fathers at the local, state, and national levels.

Medicare Drug Price Negotiations: Policy Implications Of The First 10 Drugs’ Features

Nitzan Arad et al.

Food Is Medicine: The Road To Universal Coverage

Ada Peters et al.

Risk Adjustment In The Final 2025 Notice Of Benefit And Payment Parameters

Matthew Fiedler

Expand Your Research

Interested in more perinatal mental health research?

Read our October 2021 issue dedicated entirely to policy analysis and opportunities for perinatal mental health and postpartum depression.

Some highlights from the issue include:

• Policy Opportunities To Improve Prevention, Diagnosis, And Treatment Of Perinatal Mental Health Conditions by Jennifer E. Moore et al.
• Reimagining Perinatal Mental Health: An Expansive Vision For Structural Change by Vu-An Foster et al.
• A Health Podyssey: The Health Benefits of Paid Sick Leave Reach Farther Than You Think