Medicaid costs of live births from unintended pregnancies in Florida

Abstract

The Florida Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey, a population-based, random sample mail-telephone query of new mothers of live-born infants, includes questions about pregnancy timing and wantedness, sources of payment for care, other related topics, mother's risk behaviors, satisfaction with prenatal care, and the newborn's health. There were 2,059 completed responses in 1993. Results are weighted for factors affecting response rates to reflect all births. An estimated 13.8% (95% confidence interval 11.7, 15.9) of all Florida babies in 1993 were unwanted at conception, and 20.3% (16.5, 24.1) of those whose deliveries were paid for by Medicaid were unwanted. The Medicaid program currently pays for the prenatal, intrapartum, delivery and infant health care of an estimated 16,000 pregnancies and newborns each year that were unwanted at conception. The total annual cost is estimated at $401 million, or over 8% of all 1992-93 Medicaid costs.