Pallone & Wyden Release Report on Maternal Health One Year After Trump’s Big Ugly Bill
House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) released a report on the state of maternal health care in the United States one year after President Trump signed his Big Ugly Bill into law. The report finds maternity care units have closed across the country since the bill was signed and documents the states impacted by devastating cuts to state-directed payment programs, which harms rural hospitals that rely on the funding to keep labor and delivery services open.
“Trump’s Big Ugly Bill poured gasoline on the fire,” Pallone said. “We already had a national maternal health care crisis on our hands, but this bill has made it much worse. Republicans inflicted devastating budget cuts to states forcing them to close maternity care units, while also cutting off funding to doctors that provide abortion services. The so-called ‘pro-life party’ is going to oversee the largest closure of labor and delivery services we’ve ever seen. This will negatively impact families and the communities where they live for years to come. Millions of women now live hours away from the closest hospital with a maternity unit. It’s a catastrophic consequence of this cruel bill that was designed to take health care away from millions to give tax cuts to billionaires and big corporations.”
“Maternity wards across America are shuttering their doors as a direct result of Republican Medicaid cuts,” said Wyden. “For all their talk about being the party of 'family values,' Republicans are going out of their way to make it more difficult, dangerous, and expensive to start a family in this country. As these providers disappear and care evaporates, mothers and babies will pay the ultimate price."
The report documents maternity care providers closing, cutting back services, and halting plans for expanded services across the country following enactment of Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill.
The report also details how looming funding cuts are forcing states to cut back on support for maternal health care nationwide.
The report also includes testimonials from health care providers describing how Republicans’ signature legislation has made it harder to provide maternal health care services to their patients.
“If more birthing hospitals close, there will be a lot more late entry to care,” said an OB-GYN based in Knoxville, Tennessee. “I just saw a patient today that I had seen one time before she got a C-section. I had 4-5 last month that I saw one time before delivering. There’s lots of reasons for that, but it’s clinic wait times. Every birthing hospital and clinic is overwhelmed, so wait times are high. One of the things that gets me is that a lot of people have to travel 1.5 hours for prenatal care.”
Read the full report HERE.
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