Victories and achievements
March of Dimes is proud of our record of success improving maternal and infant health policy, which reflects decades of commitment advocating with policymakers across the political spectrum for moms and babies.
- California’s Momnibus Act (S.B. 65) was signed into law on October 4th. This innovative and comprehensive legislation reforms maternal and infant care in order to eliminate racial gaps in maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in California. It was inspired by federal Momnibus (S.346/H.R.959) legislation.
- Postpartum benefits were extended in GA, TX, NJ, VA and & others states guaranteeing momthers will maintain their Medicaid coverage for 12 months (extending the previous 60 day period) after the end of the pregnancy. This important step will help these states provide pregnancy-related care to preventing unnecessary postpartum-related illness and death.
- March of Dimes played a critical role in ensuring Congress provided $2 million in 2017 for activities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent preterm birth. March of Dimes also helped preserve funding for critical public health programs, such as newborn screening, immunizations, and the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant.
- March of Dimes helped defeat proposals in both the U.S. House and Senate that would have undermined critical protections for women, children and families, like the requirements that all plans cover people with pre-existing conditions and include maternity coverage.
- Across the nation, March of Dimes secured 207 state and local legislative and regulatory victories across a wide range of maternal and child health priorities, such as protecting Medicaid coverage for pregnant women, expanding life-saving newborn screening to more conditions, and restricting access to tobacco products.