Zero-cost prenatal and postpartum care now required under health plans

What it does

This bill amends the Affordable Care Act to require health insurance plans to cover prenatal, childbirth, neonatal, perinatal, and postpartum care (including ultrasounds, delivery services, miscarriage care, and behavioral health services for up to one year after birth) with zero cost-sharing—meaning no copays, coinsurance, or deductibles. The requirement applies to all group and individual health plans starting in plan years after the bill's enactment.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward mandate requiring zero cost-sharing for defined maternal and newborn health services across all insurance plan types. It is a public-health protection measure, not a tax provision, subsidy, or deregulation.

What the text implies

• Insurers may respond by raising premiums on all enrollees to offset the elimination of cost-sharing revenue from maternity services, potentially shifting costs to non-pregnant populations.
• The one-year postpartum behavioral health coverage (including for non-birthing legal parents) expands mental-health access beyond traditional maternity scope, potentially setting precedent for other condition-specific cost-sharing eliminations.
• Self-insured employers (covered under ERISA) may face higher claims costs, potentially affecting small-business health plan offerings or employee benefit design.
• The bill does not address provider reimbursement rates; insurers may reduce payments to obstetric and maternal-health providers, potentially affecting access or quality of care delivery.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Pregnant people and new parents gain access to comprehensive maternal and newborn care without out-of-pocket costs, reducing financial barriers to essential health services. The elimination of cost-sharing removes a documented deterrent to prenatal care and postpartum follow-up, particularly for lower-income families.

Who stands to gain

• pregnant people and new parents (reduced out-of-pocket costs)
• obstetric and maternal-health providers (increased volume of insured patients with zero cost-sharing

Named in the bill

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), Public Health Service Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), Internal Revenue Code, group health plans, health insurance issuers, qualified health plans

Where it stands

29 cosponsors: 24 Democrats, 5 Republicans.

• Jun 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jun 5, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Education and Workforce and House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and…”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

2 lobbying clients named this bill on 3 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $466,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 20 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.

Jared Golden, the sponsor, reported $304,979 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — $326,000 on 2 filings
• Nemours Foundation - a Florida Not-for-profit Corporation — $140,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.