HB 59-MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY: POSTPARTUM MOTHERS  3:22:00 PM CHAIR PRAX announced that the next order of business would be HOUSE BILL NO. 59, "An Act relating to Medicaid eligibility; expanding eligibility for postpartum mothers; conditioning the expansion of eligibility on approval by the United States Department of Health and Human Services; and providing for an effective date." 3:22:43 PM CHAIR PRAX opened public testimony on HB 59. 3:23:31 PM BROOKE IVY, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy, Alaska Children's Trust, said the Alaska Children's Trust was the lead agency on preventing child abuse and neglect. She emphasized that extending postpartum Medicaid care was primary prevention and would give mothers more time to address postpartum medical issues. She stated that 41 percent of all substantiated child abuse and neglect cases in Alaska took place when children were age birth to four. She added that postpartum depression decreased child safety practice, decreased health check-ups for the child, and made bonding more difficult, and that extending postpartum coverage would also reduce maternal death and decrease medical debt. 3:25:53 PM JAMIE MORGAN, Senior Government Relations Regional Lead, American Heart Association, stated the global maternal mortality rate was decreasing, while the U.S. maternal mortality rate was increasing. She added that heart disease and stroke constituted more than one in three pregnancy related deaths primarily due to cardiomyopathy, cerebrovascular disease, or other cardiovascular conditions. She emphasized the death of a mother impacts the child, the family, and the community, and that maternal morbidity had lasting health consequences and medical expenses. MS. MORGAN said the American Heart Association had released a policy statement, Call to Action: Maternal Health and Saving Mothers, in the journal, Circulation, which had the key recommendation to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage. She stated that the American Heart Association was in support of HB 59 to give children the best start in life and address disparities. 3:28:07 PM CHAIR PRAX, after ascertaining that no one wished to testify, closed public testimony on HB 59. 3:29:18 PM REPRESENTATIVE RUFFRIDGE moved to report HB 58 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HB 58 was reported from the House Health and Social Services Standing Committee.