A Breather for New Moms

Alarmed by stories of “drive-through” childbirths in some health facilities, Assemblywoman Liz Figueroa (D-Fremont) sponsored legislation in 1996 to allow mothers to remain in a hospital at least 48 hours after giving birth. In some cases, witnesses said at hearings on the legislation, mothers and their babies were being shown the hospital door as soon as eight hours after birth, the apparent result of overzealous attempts to cut health care costs.

The legislation--which was killed last year--would have required HMOs and insurance plans to cover the mother for at least 48 hours in the hospital, or 96 hours after a caesarean-section birth. Under the bill’s provisions, the decision on whether the mother was to remain would rightly have been up to the doctor and the woman. Nothing would have stood in the way of an earlier departure. Indeed, lest Sacramento get carried away, how long a patient stays in the hospital is a decision that should rest with the physician, not with insurance companies or with legislatures.

The federal government has already passed a law that makes the 48-hour coverage a national standard. The law does not take effect until next Jan. 1, however. To fill that gap, Figueroa has a new bill, AB 38, which won approval in the Public Health Committee this week and on Tuesday goes to the Insurance Committee, which Figueroa chairs.

Given the popularity of the issue now, the bill would seem to be a snap to pass. But to become effective as soon as it is signed into law, the measure must pass both houses by a two-thirds vote rather than the usual majority.

That level of support is merited. The bill should be made law as soon as possible, allowing California mothers to take advantage of what already has been declared to be national policy.