Neb. Private Donors Offer Funds to Restore Prenatal Services to Undocumented Low-Income Women

March 24, 2010 — Unidentified donors have offered private funds to restore prenatal services that were discontinued on March 1 for about 1,600 low-income Nebraska women, including about 870 undocumented immigrants, the Omaha World-Herald reports (Hammel, Omaha World-Herald, 3/23).

For nearly 30 years, Nebraska provided prenatal care to women through Medicaid, regardless of immigration status, because their children would be natural-born U.S. citizens and therefore eligible for Medicaid. Late last year, the federal government informed Nebraska that it must cease providing such care to undocumented immigrants through Medicaid because doing so violates federal rules. The federal government allows documented immigrants to receive prenatal care through Medicaid, but undocumented immigrants are barred from the program (Women's Health Policy Report, 3/17).

The donation is part of a new plan that a group of state senators, led by Sen. Brad Ashford, are presenting to Gov. Dave Heineman (R), who has resisted efforts to restore the coverage because of his opposition to providing state benefits to undocumented immigrants. The new proposal would create a "public-private partnership" in which private money would be used to match federal funds, Ashford said. He added that the plan only would restore prenatal services for the short term. Ashford declined to identify the private donors (Omaha World-Herald, 3/23).

Ashford Could Tie Measure to Abortion Bill

Ashford said he is leading the new effort to restore the coverage because of reports from physicians that patients have said they would seek abortions if they could not afford prenatal care. The AP/USA Today reports that Ashford is expected to attach the proposal to an abortion-related bill (LB 594) that would require an abortion provider, during a patient evaluation, to investigate whether the woman feels pressured to have the procedure.

Combining the two measures could complicate the political process, according to the AP/USA Today. Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh said that adding the prenatal care proposal to the abortion bill likely would "doom" that bill because many lawmakers oppose granting prenatal care to undocumented immigrants. However, supporters of the prenatal care proposal are hoping that support for the abortion bill will be strong enough to carry both measures to passage (Jenkins, AP/USA Today, 3/24).

Heineman's Position on New Plan Unclear

In recent weeks, opposition from Heineman has contributed to the failure of two attempts to restore the prenatal coverage. One of the measures (LB 1110) would have provided prenatal care to low-income women, including undocumented immigrants, through the state's version of the Children's Health Insurance Program. After that bill failed to gain sufficient support in the Legislature -- in part because of Heineman's pledge to veto the measure -- state Sen. Kathy Campbell offered a compromise that would have only provided state-funded prenatal care for about one year to the women who lost coverage after Nebraska had to stop providing the care through Medicaid. When Heineman said he also opposed the compromise, Campbell briefly returned her focus to the original bill, though she later announced she would abandon the effort for the time being (Women's Health Policy Report, 3/17).

Jen Rae Hein, spokesperson for Heineman, said on Tuesday that the governor had not yet received a formal plan for the proposal. Hein added, "The governor is always willing to listen to ideas from any senator; however, that should not be misinterpreted to mean the governor is changing his position" (Hicks, Lincoln Journal Star, 3/23).