Studies from Brown University Update Current Data on Managed Care (State Public Coverage of Pregnant Undocumented Immigrants and Prenatal Insurance Uptake): Managed Care

2025 AUG 27 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A new study on Managed Care is now available. According to news originating from Providence, Rhode Island, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Policy Points Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia offer public insurance to pregnant undocumented immigrants who are income eligible for Medicaid. We found that residing in a state with public coverage of pregnant undocumented immigrants was associated with increased prenatal Medicaid coverage among immigrants and was not associated with corresponding reductions in private or other insurance coverage.”

Financial support for this research came from NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD).

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Brown University, “Offering state public insurance to pregnant undocumented immigrants could increase immigrants’ access to insurance coverage and recommended care during pregnancy.ContextHealth insurance coverage increases access to recommended pregnancy care, but undocumented immigrants are not eligible for pregnancy Medicaid coverage without state uptake of alternative policy options. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia (DC) offer public insurance to undocumented immigrants who are income eligible for pregnancy Medicaid through the Children’s Health Insurance Program From-Conception-to-End-of-Pregnancy option or state funds. Our objective was to examine the association between residing in a state with public insurance coverage for pregnant undocumented immigrants and prenatal insurance coverage among low-income immigrants.MethodsWe used 2016 to 2021 Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System responses linked to maternal nativity from birth certificate records from 19 states and DC. We compared the prevalence of any insurance, Medicaid insurance, and private or other insurance coverage of prenatal care between Medicaid income-eligible immigrants and nonimmigrants. We then estimated the association between state public coverage policy and prenatal insurance coverage among immigrants using linear regression models.FindingsThe study included 47,370 adults (13,271 immigrants and 34,099 nonimmigrants) who were income eligible for pregnancy Medicaid. In the ten included states with public coverage of pregnant undocumented immigrants, the proportion of immigrants with any insurance for prenatal care was 16.9 percentage points higher (95% CI, 14.9-18.9) compared with the proportion of immigrants in states without such coverage. In policy-adopting states, the proportion of immigrants with Medicaid for prenatal care was also 16.9 percentage points higher (95% CI, 14.1-19.7) compared with immigrants in nonpolicy-adopting states. We did not find differences by state coverage policy in having had private insurance coverage for prenatal care.ConclusionsProviding state public insurance coverage to undocumented immigrants during pregnancy may increase overall prenatal insurance coverage by expanding access to Medicaid.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “We did not find evidence that extending public coverage to this population crowds out other insurance options.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: State Public Coverage of Pregnant Undocumented Immigrants and Prenatal Insurance Uptake. The Milbank Quarterly, 2025. The Milbank Quarterly can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Meghan Bellerose, Brown University, School of Public Health, 121 South Main St, Providence, RI 02903, United States. Additional authors for this research include Linqing Zheng, Arielle Desir, Rachel E. Fabi, Laura R. Wherry and Maria W. Steenland.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.70040. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)