Extending Delivery Coverage to Include Prenatal Care for Low-Income, Immigrant Women Is a Cost-Effective Strategy
![Image of a couple at a prenatal care appointment.](/sites/default/files/styles/header/public/2021-04/prenatal-care.jpg?h=554a1c0c&itok=4voy44QD)
Extending prenatal care to low-income, immigrant women, regardless of citizenship status, is a cost-effective and life-saving strategy.
"Results: Extending prenatal coverage is a cost-effective strategy. Providing prenatal care for the 84,000 women annually who are currently uninsured could prevent 117 infant deaths and 34 cases of cerebral palsy. Prenatal care coverage costs $380 more per woman than covering the delivery only. For every 865 additional women receiving prenatal care, one infant death would be averted, at an average cost of $328,700. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curve analyses suggest a 99% probability that providing prenatal care is more cost effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000 per quality-adjusted life-year. "
Journal: Women's Health Issues.