Sponsor legislation that tells Medicaid to pay for birth centers

I just received an important update from Childbirth Connection.  Please read, share with other's and help us make sure that all women will have the right to give birth where and with whom they want to have a safe, satisfying birth experience.  The data is strong to support birth centers.  see the links at the end for more information. Dear Friends, Your help is needed now to preserve access to high quality, high value maternity care provided in out-of-hospital birth centers! We are asking you to support a new bill to ensure that Medicaid programs reimburse birth centers for care of pregnant women with Medicaid coverage. Birth center care is safe, effective, and satisfying for women and families, and a great value for payers. For most women it is an ideal form of care. However, this essential high quality care is in peril in the United States. After reimbursing birth centers for decades, Medicaid programs have begun to withhold payment because the relevant federal statute does not authorize coverage. A Texas judge recently ruled that from September 1 onward the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) does not have to pay its federal share of Medicaid fees to the state's 42 birth centers, a ruling that CMS could apply to the entire country. This ruling unfairly jeopardizes access of all Medicaid beneficiaries to excellent birth center care. Moreover, birth center care is disappearing for all childbearing women because many birth centers depend on Medicaid payments to continue to keep the doors open. Please take a minute now to encourage members of Congress to give CMS the authority to pay for birth center care — an essential option for women and babies and a great value to taxpayers. Links to the right provide facts and figures about out-of-hospital birth center care and its advantages in comparison with typical hospital care both for birthing women and newborns and for those who pay for their care. Thank you for taking action! Here are some additional resources: http://www.birthcenters.org/birth-center-faq Choosing a Place of Birth Chart: Birth Charges of Birth   Centers versus HospitalsEvidence-Based Maternity Care   Milbank Report Listening to Mothers II national   survey report of in-hospital   experiences