Recent research published in Preventive Medicine investigated prenatal care utilization among low-income women after Oregons 2014 Medicaid expansion. Authors estimate the expansion extended coverage to 77,000 low-income women who would have otherwise only been eligible for Medicaid coverage once they became pregnant. Authors found that enrollment in Medicaid while not pregnant was associated with better receipt of adequate prenatal care when women eventually became pregnant. Importantly, while non-Hispanic white women saw about a 2 percentage point increase in prenatal care utilization, the increase was almost double that for Hispanic women.
