Author: Sujata Gupta / Source: Science News
Black babies in the United States are twice as likely as white infants to be born at low birth weight, and 1.5 times as likely to be born prematurely.
But states that expanded Medicaid health care coverage as part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act may be shrinking that racial health gap, a study finds.Researchers analyzed birth certificate data in 18 states plus Washington, D.C., that had expanded Medicaid coverage to include more low-income citizens from 2014 to 2016, and in 17 states that did not. The team compared health outcomes of about 15.6 million babies born from 2011 to 2016 of all ethnicities across four categories: very preterm (born before 37 weeks), preterm (before 32 weeks), very low birth weight and low birth weight.
Disparities in health outcomes for black and white babies across all four categories shrank following the expansion of Medicaid in affected states, but were unchanged or increased in nonexpansion states. For instance, for low birth rate babies, black babies fared better so the gap between black and white infants decreased 7.7 percent for expansion states, but increased 4 percent in nonexpansion states, the team reports April 23 in JAMA.
Premature or small babies can go on to have healthy lives, but are at a higher risk of infant mortality…
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