Potential Medicaid cuts and further restrictions on abortion care under President-elect Donald Trump’s administration could challenge efforts to address the national maternal health crisis, Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Matteson, said Wednesday. [Health News Illinois]

Kelly said during an Axios event focused on maternal health that lawmakers are waiting to see specific policy recommendations, but noted the Project 2025 document written by former Trump staffers called for rolling back Medicaid funding.

She said that could hamper efforts to expand maternal care services, not only for Black and Brown women in urban areas, but those in rural communities where there may be one obstetrician to serve tens of thousands of residents.

“If you're talking about rolling back and not having the support that is necessary, that's a problem,” Kelly said. “That's why we have the legislation to try to give more resources, more access to women that live in those areas.”

The other concern is states that have banned or severely restricted abortion care, Kelly said. She noted that some women in those states who have had troubled pregnancies can face barriers to care.

However, Kelly said there is hope lawmakers can reach across the aisle on some issues. As co-chair of the bipartisan Maternal Health Caucus, she said her Republican colleagues have “concerns about women being able to have babies in a safe manner.”

She also highlighted her work to bolster the doula workforce through federal funding for their services. Such workers can play an important role in helping pregnant women access necessary care, she said.

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Whooping cough cases in Illinois have reached levels not seen in two decades, the state’s Department of Public Health said Monday. [Health News Illinois]

There were 408 cases of whooping cough, otherwise known as pertussis, reported in October, more than double the number in October 2023 and the highest monthly total since 2004.

Illinois has seen more than 1,900 confirmed and probable cases of pertussis this year, according to preliminary data. It’s the highest number of cases reported in a year since 2012.

Department Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said the rise is a “cause for concern and IDPH is monitoring this increase closely throughout the state.”

The state has sent three health alerts in recent months to local health departments and providers to flag the rise in cases and urge vigilance about identifying cases and reporting them within 24 hours of diagnosis.

The uptick is part of a national trend. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a six-fold increase in cases this fall compared to last year, after the number of cases dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic.

IDPH also said Monday that the overall respiratory illness level in the state remains low. Vohra cautioned that a rise is expected in the coming weeks due to the holiday season and more indoor gatherings.

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For the third year in a row, high preterm birth rates earned the U.S. only a D+ in a March of Dimes report on the state of maternal and infant health. [Axios]

The big picture: Black, Latina, Native American and Pacific Islander women experience disproportionate rates of preterm births, infant mortality and maternal deaths.

• People in the South and Midwest experience the worst outcomes.

Context: March of Dimes says "an alarmingly high preterm birth rate" is one of the contributing factors "to maternal and infant mortality and morbidity."

By the numbers: The rate of preterm births, defined as those happening before week 37 of gestation, was 10.4% in the U.S. during 2023, according to the report.

• That means 1 in 10 babies born, or about 370,000 births, happened preterm.
• Although the national rate has been steady for the last three years, preterm birth rates increased in 24 states compared to 2022. They include Arkansas, Indiana and Iowa.
• The rate of preterm births for Hispanics was 10.1%. It was 12.4% for American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander people and 14.7% for Black people.

The infant mortality rate rose in 2022 for the first time in two decades, the report says, in line with other studies carried out after Roe v. Wade was struck down.

• March of Dimes says the national rate reached 5.6 deaths per 1,000 births nationally, with most cases in the South and Midwest.
• Rates were especially high in heavily Hispanic states like Arizona (6.2 per 1,000 births), Florida (6 per 1,000) and New Mexico (5.9 per 1,000).

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Chronic health problems are fueling a troubling spike in severe pregnancy complications in Illinois. [Sun-Time]

A new study from Northwestern Medicine found more patients are developing high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, mental health disorders and obesity while pregnant. The trend is even worse for Black women and people living in poor neighborhoods.

The rise in Illinois reflects national increases in obesity, hypertension and gestational diabetes in pregnant people of all ages.

“Racial disparities in maternal health are not new,” said Dr. Mugdha Mokashi, an obstetrics and gynecology resident at Northwestern Medicine and one of the researchers on the study.

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Four Illinois Congress members have joined colleagues to ask congressional appropriators to set aside $70 million to prevent contamination by “forever chemicals.” [Health News Illinois]

The money would support a firefighting foam replacement program at airports.

Traditional firefighting foams, which the Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to use, contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are linked to potential adverse health effects. 

The program aims to help airports transition to newly approved fluorine-free foams. 

In May, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill authorizing $350 million over the next five years to help local airports transition to the new foams. 

A bipartisan coalition of 81 lawmakers that included Reps. Eric Sorensen, D-Moline; Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago; Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg; and Jan Schakowsky, D-Evanston, wrote a letter last week to leaders of the House Committee on Appropriations, urging them to include money to fund the program in any year-end spending deal. 

“Helping airports transition to fluorine-free firefighting foam as quickly as possible would make significant strides towards our shared goals of environmental stewardship and public health protection,” they wrote. 

A Senate draft funding bill includes the money.

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Illinois has seen a rise in severe maternal health issues and birth complications, according to an analysis by Northwestern Medicine researchers. [Health News Illinois]

The study of nearly 1 million births at Illinois hospitals found the overall rate of severe maternal morbidity rose from 1.4 percent in 2016 to 2 percent in 2023.

The rate for Black patients, at 2.6 percent, was more than double that of white patients, at 1.1 percent. 

The study also found the rate of vaginal birth complications increased by 22.4 percent and cesarean birth complications rose by 48.9 percent.

Significant issues noted were high blood pressure, gestational diabetes and mental health disorders. The largest increase in chronic health conditions was in obesity rates, which rose from 7.8 percent to 22.3 percent.

“Despite significant recent statewide quality-improvement efforts, these birth outcomes are worsening for all ages, reflecting the worsening pre-pregnancy health of the reproductive-age population in Illinois,” study author Dr. Mugdha Mokashi, a resident OB-GYN at Northwestern’s McGaw Medical Center, said in a statement.

Women of all ages face challenges. Younger women are seeing increases in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, anemia, depression and serious mental illness, according to the study. 

Mokashi said the findings reflect national trends that show a growing prevalence of chronic health conditions in pregnant people.

Researchers said policymakers have taken some positive steps to address the crisis, including a new law that requires insurance coverage for pregnancy and postpartum services such as midwifery, doula visits and lactation consultants.

A report released this fall by the Department of Public Health found the state’s infant mortality rate has improved, though Black infants continue to die at disparately higher rates. 

A state report released last year found Black women are twice as likely to die from any pregnancy-related condition and three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related medical conditions as white women.

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Younger and middle-aged individuals are more likely to suffer worse long COVID symptoms than those 65 and older, according to a recent report from researchers at Northwestern Medicine. [Health News Illinois]

The report, published in Annals of Neurology, showed that 71 percent of post-hospitalization long COVID cases were in adults between 18 and 64.

Nearly 91 percent of non-hospitalization long COVID cases were in that age group too.

Symptoms included headache, numbness and tingling, problems with smell and taste, blurred vision, depression, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue and a decrease in cognitive function.

The report looked at the first 1,300 patients at the Northwestern Medicine Neuro COVID-19 Clinic with neurologic long COVID symptoms between May 2020 and March 2023. Of those, 200 had been previously hospitalized for severe COVID-19 pneumonia. The rest had mild initial COVID-19 symptoms and never needed hospitalization.

Dr. Igor Koralnik, the co-director of the Northwestern Medicine Comprehensive COVID-19 Center, said the findings highlight how long COVID has “significantly” contributed to the global growth of disability and disease.

“Long COVID is causing an alteration in patients’ quality of life,” he said in a statement. “Despite vaccinations and boosters, about 30 percent of COVID patients develop some long COVID symptoms.”

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Prospective HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been outspoken about providing more resources to substance use treatment, but is critical of medication treatments for mental health conditions. [Becker's Behavioral Health]

President-elect Donald Trump said Nov. 14 he would nominate Mr. Kennedy to lead HHS. If confirmed, Mr. Kennedy would oversee the agency's 13 divisions, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

Mr. Kennedy mounted a campaign for president as an independent before ending his bid for the White House and endorsing Mr. Trump. He has touted multiple debunked conspiracy theories related to vaccines, antidepressants  and more, according to the Washington Post.

Here is what Mr. Kennedy has said about mental health and substance use: 

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Prospective CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, MD, has been a major proponent of Medicare Advantage, and has pitched expanding the program to extend coverage to all Americans. [Becker's Payer Issues]

President-elect Donald Trump nominated Dr. Oz, a television personality and professor emeritus of cardiothoracic surgery at Columbia University, to lead CMS on Nov. 19. 

After hosting the daytime talk series "The Dr. Oz Show" from 2009 to 2022, Dr. Oz earned the nomination for the Pennsylvania Republican party for the U.S. Senate. He was defeated by Democrat John Fetterman. 

Dr. Oz has previously backed "Medicare Advantage for All," a proposal to expand the Medicare Advantage program beyond older adults to everyone. 

Here are five things to know about Dr. Oz's record on Medicare Advantage: 

1. In an op-ed published in Forbes in July 2020, Dr. Oz and former Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson proposed expanding Medicare Advantage plans to everyone not already enrolled in Medicaid. They proposed rebranding the program as "Medical Advantage," and funding coverage for all citizens through a 20% payroll tax.
   
   In the article, Dr. Oz and Mr. Halvorson argued universal Medicare Advantage could eliminate Medicare fraud as a government expense and reduce administrative costs.
   
   "The complex array of payers in our hodgepodge payment nonsystem that has created a massive administrative burden would shrink significantly — and once instituted, the universal Medicare Advantage plans should be obligated to reduce excess administrative costs by a third," Dr. Oz and Mr. Halvorson wrote in 2020.

More> 

Join the discussion at the 2024 Leadership Summit on Dec. 4th, 2024. More info> 

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Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul joined 31 colleagues this week to urge Congress to pass legislation to protect children from online harm. [Health News Illinois]

The 32 attorneys general called on congressional leaders to pass legislation that would enhance online protection for minors by requiring default safety settings on platforms and allowing for the disabling of “manipulative design features" that keep children online, Raoul’s office said in a statement Tuesday. 

America faces a “national youth mental health catastrophe,” buoyed in part by the addictive nature of social media platforms, according to the attorneys general.

“The states have been consistently acting to vigorously protect kids from online dangers using their existing consumer protection authority, and we look forward to further collaboration,” the letter said. “These changes will help create a safer online environment that reduces harm to kids.”

The attorneys general are asking Congress to pass the law by the end of the year.

Raoul said in a statement that social media can interfere with sleep and education as well as contribute to depression, anxiety and body dysmorphia.

Joining the letter is the latest step Raoul has taken to address the impact of social media on youth mental health. This fall he backed an effort to place a surgeon general’s warning on social media platforms.

Raoul and more than a dozen attorneys general in October sued TikTok, alleging the platform purposefully addicted children and teens. He sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, last year.

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