For Immediate Release
Contact: Peter Clark, pclark@txchildren.org
Austin – Today the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) approved the Texas plan to implement HB 12, legislation passed by state lawmakers in 2023 to allow Texans enrolled in Medicaid for Pregnant Women to maintain their health insurance for 12 months after the pregnancy rather than two months. Approval will take effect on March 1, 2024. Under the Texas plan, anyone whose pregnancy ended in the months prior to March 1 and lost postpartum Medicaid coverage is eligible to re-enroll to maintain coverage until 12 months after their pregnancy ended.
Following the announcement of CMS’ approval, Diana Forester, Director of Health Policy at Texans Care for Children, issued the following statement:
“This is a fantastic step forward to support healthy moms and babies. We are so grateful to Representative Toni Rose, Senator Lois Kolkhorst, the staff at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC), and everyone else who worked hard to make this happen. Disagreements between elected officials get a lot of attention, but this is an example of how our state legislators really can come together to improve access to health care for Texas families.
“Now that the plan has been approved, we encourage state officials to move quickly to ensure that Texas moms who were recently pregnant and lost Medicaid coverage are able to re-enroll as soon as possible.”
