There’s so much to say about health care reform. Rather than doing one mammoth post, I thought it would be better to just do a quick hit on several aspects of the health care debate.

Here’s a great article from The American Prospect about midwives. Miriam Perez notes:

Childbirth is among the top five causes for hospitalization, and the No. 1 cause for women. According to Childbirth Connection, Cesarean section is the most common operating-room procedure, and in 2009 the C-section rate hit an all-time high according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at 31.8 percent of all births. These rates account, in part, for the increasing cost of maternity care in the U.S. Maternal and newborn charges totaled $86 billion in 2006, 45 percent of which was paid for by Medicaid. The federal government is already footing a huge portion of the U.S.’ maternity-care bill, and these midwives think they can help reduce costs significantly, and not just for low-income women.

It isn’t coincidental that we’re seeing this kind of progress for CPMs during an economic downturn. Midwives like Bartlett are often the only option for pregnant women who are underinsured, as many in her state are. She’s seen a growth in her midwifery practice in recent years, and many of the women who come to her fall between the gap of the privately insured and those who qualify for Medicaid. These women choose to enlist Bartlett’s services (a bargain at around $3,000) rather than pay out of pocket for a hospital birth (around $8,500) or even the high deductible for their insurance plan.

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