Dear Friends,
The American Association of Birth Centers is asking everyone to help with grassroots support in their efforts to get federal legislation that would include birth center facility fees for Medicaid reimbursement. Without this, many birth centers, especially those that serve many Medicaid clients, would have to close. While some state Medicaid programs have reimbursed birth centers in the past, more recently the federal government has taken actions to stop states from including this reimbursement because it is not specified in federal legislation. You can find more information about birth centers and the bill at "Materials to Help You Communicate with Your Legislators."
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Please read the message below, which spells out exactly what is needed. All it will take on your part is a couple of phone calls to help make sure that freestanding birth centers can continue to offer women an excellent choice for maternity care.
Thanks for your help!
Susan Hodges, “gatekeeper”
From the American Association of Birth Centers:
How to Help AABC Lobby for the Birth Center Medicaid Bill
The American Association of Birthing Centers (AABC) is seeking federal legislation that would add freestanding birth centers to the list of health professionals and providers eligible for payment under the federal-state Medicaid program. Medicaid is the primary source of payment for maternity care services for low income women; in many states, nearly half of all pregnant women are Medicaid beneficiaries. The Federal law that lists all Medicaid-eligible providers is section 1905(a) of the Social Security Act. Although hospitals, physicians, nurse-midwives, clinics, and others are among those listed, birth centers are not. This means that birth centers cannot be reimbursed for the facility fees they charge, which are like hospital facility fees, but much less money.
Next week, AABC’s bill will be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Susan Davis (D., CA) (San Diego). It will then be assigned a bill number and an official name. We will let you know when that happens, but don’t wait to make your calls. AABC is asking all birth professionals, birth advocates, and supporters of improving maternity care to help us lobby for this bill. Grassroots support phone calls to Congress is the single most important element in whether a bill like this becomes law.
Please help. It’s easy. (See #4 below for how to find out who your Congresspeople are.) Here’s all you have to do:
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The language used to describe pregnancy and childbirth reflects assumptions about women that set the stage for different styles of maternity care. Woman-centered terminology portrays women as active, healthy, and powerful, and labor as 'natural' and 'normal,' In this view, associated traditionally with the midwifery model, providers 'attend' women, 'assist' at births, and 'catch' babies. In contrast, some medical language depicts women as passive subjects, putting doctors in the role of 'managing labor' and 'delivering babies.' Medical terms such as 'failure to progress,' 'inadequate pelvis,' and 'incompetent cervix' imply that something is wrong with a woman's body. This influences how we see ourselves, how providers see us, and how the media portray birth.
In the continuum of life, pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period are milestone events. These experiences profoundly affect women, babies, fathers and families. They have important and long-lasting effects on society.
When a woman give birth, she has to reach down inside herself and give more than she thought she had. The limits of her existence are stretched...As she does it, she becomes someone new: a mother. If the birthing process is skipped or occurs in a hostile situation, or if the interventions become overwhelming, she becomes a different mother that she would have been if she had only a supportive, midwifery model of care.
So why would staying out of bed shorten labor and reduce pain?+ I was interested to read the article Abu Dhabi doula about a multicultural doula training conducted by Debra Pascali-Bonaro.
"Women who are upright and mobile are able to change their positions more easily," said Annemarie Lawrence, lead review author and a research midwife at the Institute of Women's and Children's Health at Townsville Hospital in Queensland, Australia.
"The ability to change positions, to utilize a wider variety of positions, and try other options, such as hot showers, birthing balls and beanbag supports, may help reduce overall pain and give women a greater sense of control over the progress of their labor," she said.
Breast-feeding's debate not related to infants' health:--
But the guilt and the angst over whether to breast-feed is her problem, as is her perception that she'll be less than an uber-mom if she gives her baby a bottle. Who told her she had to be an uber-mom, anyway? The reality is, moms make trade-offs over what they do for their babies all the time in light of their time, energy, abilities and financial and emotional resources.
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