S. 5515

Community Access, Resources, and Empowerment for Moms Act or the CARE for Moms Act

This bill establishes and expands federal programs to increase access to health care for pregnant and postpartum women, particularly those in underserved communities. It also increases and expands excise taxes on tobacco products.

The bill requires state Medicaid programs and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to cover women for 12 months postpartum and to cover dental services for pregnant and postpartum women The bill also allows for two years of postpartum coverage for women under the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Also, the bill establishes grant programs for

• state-based collaboratives to improve perinatal health care,
• mobile health units for obstetric care in rural and underserved communities, 
• the doula workforce, and 
• regional centers of excellence to educate health professionals on implicit bias and culturally competent care.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must publish information on Medicaid and CHIP benefits for pregnant and postpartum women and report to Congress on maternal health needs and expenditures.

In addition, hospitals, as a condition of Medicare participation, must notify HHS at least 90 days before closing an obstetric unit.

Additionally, the bill increases existing excise taxes on cigarettes, equalizes tax rates among all other tobacco products, and establishes annual inflation adjustments. It also establishes new excise taxes for other tobacco products deemed as such by the Food and Drug Administration that are not already subject to such federal taxes.