Julia Eddelbuettel

cc: @jamiedaw.bsky.social, @alison-galbraith.bsky.social, @healthpolicydpm.bsky.social

Thank you to my amazing coauthors - Jamie Daw, Alison Galbraith, Sarah Gordon, Anjali Kaimal, and Laura Garabedian! And biggest thank you to the PRAMS working group – PRAMS is the only data with which we could have evaluated this policy and is an essential source to study maternal + infant health.

New York passed their BHP in 2016 – but Oregon passed a BHP in 2024, and Washington DC’s BHP was approved this past summer (!), with plans to start in January 2026. BHPs are an active policy option for states to potentially protect their residents who may lose coverage from the end of the EPTCs.

This is especially salient as the expected expiration of the EPTCs nears. BHPs could be a state-level policy option leveraged to mitigate the projected coverage losses of lower-income enrollees, including those who become pregnant.

While we find no impact on preconception uninsurance, we find that individuals substituted to the BHP largely from private coverage which may represent meaningful cost savings for individuals in the perinatal period -- BHPs are much less expensive ($0 premiums) than silver Marketplace plans or ESI.

We find that NY’s BHP increased New York State of Health (BHP+Marketplace) coverage among childbearing individuals prior to pregnancy, and that this coverage was sustained through to the postpartum period.

The BHP is a provision of the ACA that allows states to create an insurance coverage option for lower-income residents (138-200% FPL). BHP coverage is akin to Medicaid in cost sharing + benefit design, but is sought from the state Marketplace, and effectively functions as a bridge btwn the two.

New York’s Basic Health Program Increased Subsidized Insurance Coverage From Preconception To The Postpartum Period | Health Affairs Journal Prepregnancy access to care and continuous health insurance coverage from preconception to postpartum are modifiable drivers of maternal health. The Basic Health Program (BHP) provision of the Afforda...

New in Health Affairs last week, we evaluated the impact of New York’s Basic Health Program (BHP) on pregnancy-related insurance coverage: www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1...

👋👋

I’m super excited to be here at #PAA2025 and present on the impact of New York’s BHP on preconception and pregnancy-related coverage!

Absolutely honored to win this year's James F. Burgess Methods Article-of-the-Year Award, along with @betsyqcliff.bsky.social @juliaedd.bsky.social and @markmeiselbach.bsky.social for our HSR article on deductible imputation in administrative claims datasets!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

very impressive work from my very impressive friend @gabyaboulafia.bsky.social!! seeing this out is a bright spot on the TL today 🌟

CDC Shutters PRAMS Program on Maternal and Infant Health The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) is a federal data collection...

Canceling our national surveillance of maternal and infant health - even worse than what they said they’d do in Project 2025.

PRAMS Surveillance project of CDC and health departments used to improve maternal and infant health.

For 38 years, PRAMS has collected critical data on maternal-child health with the goal to reduce infant morbidity and mortality. CDC has officially halted the 2024 PRAMS data collection for the participating 46 states and the future is uncertain.