NEW YORK, Nov 1: The rate of preterm births in the United States dropped to a 15-year low of 11.5 per cent in 2012, according to a report released today, but the country still came in dead last among industrialized nations on this measure of infant health.
The rate reflects six straight years of declines, possibly due to factors such as a drop in smoking among women of childbearing age, said the March of Dimes, the nonprofit group that produced the report.
The improvement comes during an acrimonious, partisan debate in Congress about health insurance centered on President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law.
The Affordable Care Act requires all insurance plans to cover maternity care, spreading the cost of healthy pregnancies across society.
That provision led to a testy exchange on Wednesday when Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, testified before a congressional panel and defended the provision. Republican Representative Renee Ellmers retorted that the maternity requirement “is why healthcare premiums are increasing, because we are forcing (people) to buy things that they will never need.”
The requirement increases premiums for a typical policy about 3 per cent, calculated James O’Connor of Milliman, an actuarial firm, in an April report for the health insurance industry.
“We are the only high-income country in the world not to have everyone covered for maternity care,” said Dr Edward McCabe, medical director of the March of Dimes.
Before the ACA, “only 16 per cent of plans in the individual market covered women for maternity care,” McCabe said. “Requiring that coverage is a statement about our values as a society.” (AGENCIES)
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