Texas health agency says its plan to extend maternal Medicaid coverage is “not approvable” by feds

A midwife cares for a newborn baby in 2018. (Credit: Natalia Ojewska for The Texas Tribune)

Texas’ application to extend Medicaid coverage for new mothers from two months to six months is not going to be approved by the federal government in its current form, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement Friday that the application is still under review.

Legislators who pushed for the extension say they believe the application was not approved because of language that could be construed to exclude pregnant women who have abortions, including medically necessary abortions. The language in the bill that passed during the 2021 legislative session extended coverage to pregnant women who deliver a baby or have an “involuntary miscarriage.”