Maternity ward closures surge across US as Medicaid cuts take effect

US maternity ward closures are increasing as federal Medicaid cuts take effect, with further closures expected ahead of wider changes in 2027.

An analysis by the non-profit Protect Our Care found that 52 maternity wards have closed since the HR1 bill was announced in July 2025, with another eight announcing plans to close.

The bill is due to come fully into effect in 2027. It will introduce new work requirements for many adults covered by Medicaid, more frequent eligibility checks and reduced federal funding for states.

Hospitals that have already permanently closed maternity wards include Centra Southside Community Hospital in Virginia and St Mary’s Sacred Heart Hospital in rural north-east Georgia. Both cited upcoming federal Medicaid policy changes as a reason.

Experts expect further closures before and after the changes take full effect in 2027.

Erin Jones, senior director of legislative and strategic counsel at the non-profit March of Dimes, said: “We’re deeply concerned that these changes already have and will continue to worsen an already serious maternity care crisis.

“Reduced funding and restrictions on how states finance Medicaid will put additional pressure on state budgets and hospitals, increasing the risk that communities lose essential maternity services and specialised providers close to home.”

March of Dimes has identified 31 at-risk rural hospitals with labour and delivery services.

Their possible closure could leave 96 counties without a labour and delivery unit.

Around 40 per cent of US births are paid for by Medicaid.

The country also has one of the highest maternal mortality rates among high-income nations, at 17.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) figures.

Benjamin Sommers, professor of healthcare economics at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said the changes would “absolutely” affect pregnant women and specialist pregnancy organisations.

“It’s not true that this law in any way protects Medicaid for pregnant mothers, for low-income parents.

“It adds financial strain to the providers and the insurance programme that they rely on,” he said.

Although pregnant women are supposed to be exempt from the new Medicaid work requirements, Sommers said his research had shown that many are not enrolled through the Medicaid pregnancy pathway.

This means a state may not know that a woman receiving Medicaid through another eligibility route is pregnant.

He said: “Someone could be enrolled through Medicaid expansion, they could get pregnant and they could mistakenly think – because they heard it on the news that this law doesn’t affect pregnant people – [they’re] fine, and it turns out the state doesn’t know they’re pregnant and they lose coverage.”

Concerns have also been raised about access to US maternal and infant health data.

In early 2025, the Trump administration placed the entire CDC pregnancy risk assessment monitoring system team on administrative leave.

The system collects data on women’s experiences before, during and after pregnancy.

An upcoming report by academics and former CDC staff found that the federal government’s actions disrupted the collection and management of “one of the nation’s most important sources of population-based information on pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, postpartum experiences, and maternal and infant health”.

The system has existed for more than four decades.

Rita Hamad, professor of social epidemiology and public policy at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and a co-author of the report, said: “There are no other datasets like it.

“Teams like mine used to have access to this data before the portal was shut down, and so now there’s no way to study the more recent trends in maternal and infant health.”

“Now we’re very worried that the cuts to US safety net policies or barriers that keep people able to access those programmes are going to have detrimental effects on maternal and infant health.”