Talking Points for Faxed Letters Or Emails

MAMA CAMPAIGN

TALKING POINTS FOR FAXED LETTERS OR EMAILS TO YOUR SENATOR/CONGRESSMAN/CONGRESSWOMAN’S DISTRICT OFFICE (UPDATED 8/10 EHD)

Your senator is a member of the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Max Baucus from Montana; or your congressman/woman is a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee chaired by Henry Waxman from California. These two committees are playing a central role in drafting health reform legislation. We need the Senator’s or Congressman’s support to see that Certified Professional Midwives are included. You can help by sending emails and faxed letters to their District Offices TODAY!

How to do this: Address your emailed or faxed letters to the Congress member’s attention in the District Office. To find the District Office address/fax/email: For a Senator: www.senate.gov ; For a Representative: www.house.gov ; click on the Congress member’s name and you’ll can access their website. There you’ll find District Office contact information.

Important tip: ALWAYS say “Certified Professional Midwife”; do not use “CPM” (which is frequently misinterpreted with the more familiar “CNM”).

What we want your Senator to do. Please include this language in your letter: I am writing to ask if Senator (______) would be willing to speak with Chairman Baucus to ensure that our amendment – an amendment that would secure federal Medicaid recognition of the services provided by Certified Professional Midwives - is included in the health care bill that will go forward in the Senate Finance Committee. OR

What we want your Congressman/woman to do. Please include this language in your letter: I am writing to ask if Congressman/woman (______) would be willing to speak with Chairman Waxman to ensure that our amendment – an amendment that would secure federal Medicaid recognition of the services provided by Certified Professional Midwives – is included in the health care bill that will go forward from the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Why we want him/her to do this:  Certified Professional Midwives are highly-trained, credentialed clinicians who provide effective, evidence-based maternity care. They are the only maternity care providers specifically trained in attending births outside the hospital and, by assisting in births at home and in birthing centers, offer women an important choice in how their babies are delivered.

 Adding Certified Professional Midwives to the Medicaid list would cost nothing, but would start reducing health care costs immediately; each mother on Medicaid who chooses an out-of-hospital birth with a Certified Professional Midwife would lower Medicaid costs, since Medicaid would otherwise be paying for a hospital birth at greater cost and with much greater likelihood of an expensive cesarean section. The Washington State cost/benefits study commissioned by the Department of Health, demonstrates an overall cost savings of 3.1 million dollars to the state over a two-year period with midwives doing just under 2% of the births.

MIDWIVES AND MOTHERS IN ACTION National Association of Certified Professional Midwives · Citizens for Midwifery · North American Registry of Midwives · Midwifery Education Accreditation Council · International Center for Traditional Childbearing  Several studies, including those commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), demonstrate that midwives who attend births outside the hospital (at home or in a birth center) have much lower rates of unnecessary and potentially dangerous medical interventions such as inductions and cesarean-sections with at least as good outcomes in terms of maternal and infant mortality, at substantially lower costs.

 Because Certified Professional Midwives provide thorough individualized care that promotes healthy pregnancies, the babies are healthier – more are full term and full weight, avoiding costly health problems.

 Of the twenty-five states that now provide a path to licensure for Certified Professional Midwives, only eleven include CPMs in their state Medicaid programs, so low-income women on Medicaid have difficulty obtaining services. This falls short of genuine and consistent patient choice and access. Certified Professional Midwives and women who want access to them are seeking federal Medicaid reimbursement for their services as one important step to increase access to this kind of maternity care.

 All women deserve to have access to quality, comprehensive maternity care, in the communities where they live, with a choice of qualified provider and services that are fully recognized and reimbursed by both private and public payers.

 Maternity care is the #1 reason for hospitalization in the United States, and yet we have declining quality outcomes for women and infants; it is essential for health care reform to include safe, high quality and cost-effective choices for women and families, such as Certified Professional Midwives.

Add a Brief Personal Detail if Relevant:  Share a brief personal detail if possible and relevant—example: “Two of my children were born at home attended by Certified Professional Midwives. I believe all women regardless of their income should have access to the safe, high-quality, cost-effective care provided by Certified Professional Midwives.”

Sign off with your name, address, and contact information.

For more information: If the Senator’s or Congressman/woman’s office would like to know more information about our efforts to pursue this important Medicaid improvement, please contact Mary Lawlor with the National Association of Certified Professional Midwives at [email protected] or on her cell phone at 917-453- 6780. She and others will be in D.C. the week of August 17th and may be available to meet with the Senator/Congressman/woman or his/her staff.

THANK YOU!