PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Federal and state lawmakers stopped at Toddler Time Child Development Center in Portsmouth to roll out Momnibus, Virginia style, and they’re on a roll to spread the word — the land of the free and the home of the brave has the highest maternal mortality rate of any high-income country.
Solutions were wrapped into a federal act in 2021, and now, Virginia has joined the effort, with 12 new laws and nearly $7 million in funding.
“So one of the bills was around cultural bias,” said Del. Don Scott. “You know, the governor doesn’t believe that people experience health care differently from different cultures of different races.”
You’re going to be bringing ways to do mobile health care.
The Momnibus Act of 2021 increased investments in social determinants of health — housing, transportation and nutrition. It extended WIC eligibility post partum and the breastfeeding period and it improved maternal health care and support for incarcerated moms.
Now the Virginia package will add another blanket of support.
“We’re now bringing it to Virginia right now,” Scott said. “We’re solving problems in Virginia, and hopefully we will bring anybody along who wants to help us solve problems. And that’s what we’ve done today.”
The Virginia package also includes Medicaid reimbursements for midwives, but everything is uncertain because of the budget bill before Congress that calls for deep cuts to Medicaid that could leave Virginia with a multi-million dollar shortfall.
