Low-income mothers and babies will soon have a full year of Medicaid coverage in Wisconsin

New mothers and their babies who qualify for Medicaid will soon have access to a full year of coverage after Gov. Tony Evers signed one of two women's health care bills that have taken years to pass the state Assembly.

The postpartum Medicaid bill, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 102, expands coverage from 60 days after birth to a full year and makes Wisconsin the second-to-last state to adopt the expansion. Evers signed the bill at Children's Wisconsin Hospital in Milwaukee on Wednesday.

Expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage is something Evers has proposed in every two-year budget since becoming governor, but all four times, it's been stripped out.

"We knew from the get-go that getting this passed was an uphill battle," Evers said in a statement. "But we also weren't going to let partisanship or politics stop us from continuing our work to build support for this important proposal, because we know just how high the stakes are."

The bill will take effect July 1.

Despite receiving bipartisan support, the postpartum Medicaid extension bill seemed destined to die again in the Assembly due in part to staunch opposition from outgoing Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, who said he opposed expanding welfare programs. But the tide turned last month after hours of private debate among Republicans and a concerted pressure campaign from Democrats.

The bills, along with another that expands health insurance coverage for additional breast cancer screenings, made it to the Assembly floor the same day Vos, who had been holding up both bills, announced his plan to retire from the Assembly after 22 years, 13 as speaker.

Both bills easily passed the Senate on a 32-1 vote, with only one Republican opposed. The postpartum bill always had overwhelming support in the Senate but stalled in Assembly committees.

The postpartum measure, Senate Bill 23, is one of the few legislative measures supported by both anti-abortion groups and a wide array of Democrats, and is part of a nationwide push for expanded medical care for new mothers that gained ground after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Medicaid covered 35% of Wisconsin births in 2023, according to the state Department of Health Services. The state saw 63 pregnancy-related deaths from 2020-22. One-third of those deaths occurred more than 60 days after birth, and 76% of those who died had Medicaid at the time of their delivery.

Arkansas is the only remaining state that has not extended Medicaid coverage for poor women.

Evers has signaled he will also sign the breast cancer screening bill.