Free Health Care for Pregnant Immigrant People

For many pregnant immigrant people in Maryland, growing a family came at a cost since access to quality health care was limited depending on their citizenship status. With no access to health insurance, pregnant immigrant people often found themselves delaying prenatal care, seeking routine care in emergency rooms, and being left with large medical bills. However, that all changed on July 1, 2023, when Maryland’s Healthy Babies Equity Act went into effect.

The new law now extends Medicaid health coverage to pregnant and postpartum individuals regardless of immigration status. This was a huge victory for health equity advocates because it expanded life-saving health coverage to thousands of pregnant immigrant people. This includes DACA recipients and those with an undocumented status or on visas that would otherwise make them ineligible for Medicaid. At a time when maternal mortality is increasing in many communities, access to prenatal care, dental care, essential lab work, and more is critical to ensuring safe deliveries and healthy families.

CCI has seen firsthand how this change impacts the communities we serve. Not only has enrollment in our prenatal care program increased, but expecting parents have shared sighs of relief knowing that their care will be covered without any out-of-pocket expenses.

“Out of the ten, seven are fully insured, and three are waiting for their insurance to arrive. So we have a fully insured group now compared to what we didn’t have, which is really good because now they don’t have to worry about anything,” said Sherlyn Hernandez, CCI’s Maternal and Child Health Program Coordinator for WAMU 88.5.

In August, the Washington, D.C. NPR station, WAMU 88.5, visited CCI’s Greenbelt location to learn about our group-based prenatal care program.