MADISON, WI – This week, Governor Tony Evers signed Senate Bill 23—relating to: extension of eligibility under the Medical Assistance program for postpartum women and Senate Bill 264—relating to: coverage of breast cancer screenings by the Medical Assistance program and health insurance policies and plans, into law. Representative Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) released the following statement: 

“Today, I was honored to stand beside Governor Evers as he signed Senate Bill 264, better known as Gail’s Law. Earlier this week, Governor Evers also signed Senate Bill 23, or Postpartum Medicaid Expansion, into law.

I am proud to be a cosponsor of both these lifesaving bills, which both increase affordable access to healthcare for Wisconsin women.

Senate Bill 23 expands Medicaid access for postpartum women from 2 months to 12 months, ensuring that new mothers can receive necessary preventative care and treatment in the first full year after giving birth.

Access to quality, affordable care ensures better health outcomes for all mothers and babies. In the year after giving birth, when new mothers are at their most medically vulnerable, preventable and treatable conditions including blood clots, hemorrhaging, sepsis, seizures, hypertension, and poor mental health can pose an existential threat to their wellbeing.

By expanding postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months, we are guaranteeing that new mothers maintain affordable access to services necessary both for maintaining good health and for detecting and treating postpartum complications before they become life-threatening.

As a Dane County Supervisor for 16 years and a state legislator, I have been diligently working to combat Wisconsin’s pressing racial disparities in maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. In our state, Black mothers are 5x more likely than white mothers to die from pregnancy or childbirth, and Black babies are 3x more likely than white babies to die before their first birthday. We can, and we must, enact policy that addresses these troubling statistics.

Senate Bill 264, or Gail’s Law, was named in honor of Gail Zeamer, an outspoken advocate for the Wisconsin Breast Density Notification Act, which ensures that Wisconsin women with dense breast tissue are notified of their condition and informed about their increased risk of breast cancer, as well as challenges they might have in detecting breast cancer with a standard mammogram.

Gail sadly passed away in 2024, and my heart and prayers remain with her family, loved ones, and community. Her legacy lives on through this bill, which requires insurance coverage for follow-up breast cancer screening.

Studies show that dense breast tissue, which is found in almost 40 percent of women, can slightly increase a woman’s chances of developing breast cancer. Dense breast tissue can also make it more difficult to detect breast cancer through a traditional mammogram screening, but thorough follow-up screening can be prohibitively expensive for many. Gail’s Law removes this cost barrier, ensuring that no Wisconsin woman will live with undetected breast cancer because she cannot afford screening.

As a member of the Assembly Committee on Health, Aging, and Long Term Care and an advocate for women’s health, I am so grateful that both of these bills are now Wisconsin law. By ensuring affordable access to lifesaving health care, we will save the lives of innumerable women across our state.”