Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the crisis of opioid-related deaths has escalated to unprecedented levels. But repealing the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA’s) Medicaid expansion threatens to take opioid treatment away from more than a half million Americans.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated deficiencies in health care financing in the US that could worsen maternal health outcomes. Yet strategies such as expanding coverage and reimbursement of evidence-informed services and developing value-based payment models for maternity care could reduce maternal mortality and eliminate racial gaps in maternal and infant health outcomes.
Urban Institute researchers explore what promising maternal care telehealth practices have emerged during the coronavirus pandemic, what access and equity concerns surrounding maternal health have arisen in light of increased reliance on telehealth, and what lessons can be applied after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Relief measures such as stimulus checks and unemployment benefit supplements appeared to have mitigated food insecurity in the pandemic’s early months. But the most recent data from Urban’s Coronavirus Tracking Survey show food insecurity edged back up the month after relief expired.
One in four adults reported their family’s financial situation was worse in September 2020 than before the pandemic, but the pandemic’s financial effects varied significantly by race, ethnicity, and income. Without additional assistance, these disparities could widen.
