Benefits of Medicaid Expansion for Mothers and Infants
Around half of the uninsured who could be covered under Medicaid expansion are women and 15% are parents. Research has documented significant improvements in pregnancy outcomes for women and infants due to Medicaid expansion. Even though children up to 215% of poverty are eligible for Medicaid in South Carolina and expansion does not directly impact children, research shows that children are more likely to be insured and receive preventive care when their parent(s) also have coverage and can take care of their own health.
SC’s Infant Healthcare Challenges
SC has poor maternal and infant outcomes, which research shows can be improved by ensuring access to healthcare for low-income working women before they become pregnant.
Impact if SC Expanded
- States that expanded Medicaid significantly narrowed the disparity between black and white mothers in incidence of low birth weight and pre-term births, compared to states that did not.
- Pregnancy related hypertension is associated with poor maternal and child health outcomes. Diagnosis of hypertension due to pregnancy increased and incidence of low birthweight infants decreased significantly in expansion states vs. non-expansion states.
- Medicaid covers pregnant and 12 month post-partum women with incomes up to 199% of poverty level or $54,367 for a family of 3.
- For women who are not pregnant Medicaid covers female parents only with incomes up to 67% of poverty.
- In a 3 person family this is less than $18,304.
- With expansion all women in a 3 person family earning less than $37,702 or a single woman earning less than $22,025 could be covered regardless of pregnancy status.
Maternal Deaths
- SC is 8th worst in US. Maternal death rate for black SC residents is 2.5x higher than that for white residents. The US rate that is 3x higher than most developed countries.
Impact if SC Expanded
- Expansion states had 17% fewer maternal hospital admissions post delivery within 60 days than non-expansion states.
- Expansion was associated with 7 fewer maternal deaths per 100,000 live births and the impact was concentrated among black mothers.
“Because the United States is the only wealthy country that does not guarantee health coverage, many patients come into pregnancy with chronic medical conditions that have not been diagnosed or managed before pregnancy, including hypertension, diabetes and heart conditions. Among the leading causes of pregnancy related deaths from 2017-2019 ere cardiovascular conditions.”
– Louisiana Medical Director of the Maternal Mortality Review Committee
Child Health
SC still has a large number of uninsured children. Despite covering children up to 215% of poverty under Medicaid, SC still has 54,000 of children under 18 who are uninsured.
- The percentage of uninsured children in SC has increased from 2022 to 2024 – 4.7% to 5.9% – 72,000 children in SC lack health care coverage.
Details: https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2025/09/12/u-s-and-state-by-state-child-health-coverage-trends/ - The number of children covered under Medicaid in SC declined from 640,000 in February 2025 to 610,000 in February 2026.
Details: https://www.scdhhs.gov/partners/reports-and-statistics/medicaid-enrollment-dashboard
Impact if SC Expanded
Research shows for every 9 adults who gain coverage with increased income eligibility, one child also gains coverage (known as a “welcome mat” effect), that means if SC covers 250,000 additional working adults under expansion, 28,000 children in their families would also be covered.
Details: https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2024/01/31/research-shows-medicaid-expansion-beneficial-to-child-health-and-family-financial-security/
Low Pay and Lack of Benefits for People Who Care for Our Children
Low paid and uninsured workers in child care and schools make it hard to attract a high quality and stable work force caring for SC children.
Impact if SC Expanded
Child care workers and those working in schools make up a significant portion of working people who benefit by gaining insurance coverage with Medicaid expansion, making child care and education more attractive and stable occupations.