Health

"In some cases, keeping maternity units open is a financial challenge, since the departments aren’t always profitable, several Alabama physicians said. Around 9% of the state’s residents have no health insurance, according to a report from the Census Bureau, and almost half of the births in Alabama are covered by Medicaid. Reimbursements for that program can be substantially lower than for private insurance plans. . . . . .

“There’s something broken about the funding stream that helps us take care of our women and children,” Waits said.

"Such challenges are not isolated to Alabama. lly, fewer than half of rural hospitals have labor and delivery services, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a policy-focused nonprofit.

"And so far this year, obstetrics departments have also closed in California, Idaho, Massachusetts and Tennessee."

From article quoted in OP.


I remember rural hospitals closing obstetrics units in the 1980s.