MADISON, Wis. —  Monday marked the 16th Anniversary of the passage of the Affordable Care Act, and despite Republicans trying to gut the ACA by passing the Big Ugly Bill, refusing to continue funding the ACA, and abandoning Wisconsin mothers to maternal healthcare deserts—Wisconsin Democrats continue their fight to make health care affordable. In the past month, Democrats in the state legislature, along with Governor Tony Evers, passed two monumental bills – Gail’s Law and a medicaid extension for postpartum mothers –  both of which will help Wisconsinites afford care. And in D.C., Senator Tammy Baldwin, Representative Mark Pocan, and Representative Gwen Moore have introduced bills to address the maternal health care crisis and strengthen Medicare.

See more coverage of these Democratic health care wins below: 

WPR: Gov. Tony Evers signs law extending postpartum medicaid coverage to 1 year

Thousands of mothers in Wisconsin will now have access to postpartum Medicaid coverage after Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill extending the program from 60 days to one year.

The effort has been years in the making, with Evers including it in all four of his proposed budgets since he took office in 2019.

In a press release after he signed the bill, Evers said he’s proud to have gotten it “across the finish line.”

“It was one of the very first things I announced back in 2019 as part of my very first budget,” Evers wrote. “That’s how long I’ve been fighting to get this done, folks.”

According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, nearly half of pregnancy-related deaths occur during the postpartum period, and nearly all of those deaths are preventable.

WPR: Evers signs ‘Gail’s Law’ to require coverage of preventive breast cancer screenings

Wisconsin women will have access to preventive breast cancer screenings under a new law signed Thursday by Gov. Tony Evers. 

Named Gail’s Law after a woman who died after developing breast cancer that routine screenings missed, the new law requires insurers to cover supplemental breast screening exams for those at increased risk. Wisconsin already required insurance companies to cover initial mammograms but did not previously require coverage of follow-up screenings.

Passage of the bill in the state Legislature has been years in the making. The Gail’s Law bill was introduced in three consecutive legislative sessions. After it was first introduced in 2021, the bill passed last month when Republicans announced they had reached consensus on it and a separate bill to expand postpartum Medicaid coverage.

WEAU: Baldwin, Markley, Moore introduce legislation to address maternal healthcare crisis

On Wednesday, U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI-04) introduced the Perinatal Workforce Act.

According to a press release from Tammy Baldwin, this legislation addresses the maternal healthcare crisis in the U.S. This bill would help grow the perinatal workforce by creating grant programs to increase the number of maternity care providers and workers who provide care during and after pregnancy.

The Perinatal Workforce Act would:

  • Require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide guidance to states on the promotion of racially, ethnically and professionally diverse maternity care teams and to study how culturally congruent maternity care promotes better outcomes for moms, especially in communities of color
  • Provide funding to establish and scale programs that will grow and diversify the maternal health clinical and non-clinical workforce, increasing the number of nurses, midwives, physician assistants, doulas and other perinatal health workers who moms can trust throughout their pregnancies, labor and delivery and the postpartum period
  • Study the barriers that prevent women – particularly from underserved communities – from entering maternity care professions and receiving equitable compensation