LINCOLN- According to several testifiers who spoke on Sen. Jen Day's LR154, Nebraska could be doing more to help incentivize doctors to dedicate time and specialty to labor and delivery care, a move that they say will help the state fill its substantial maternal care deserts. The CDC defines such deserts as any county without a hospital or birth center present, which is nearly 53% of Nebraska's 93 counties.

According to one testifier, roughly 15% to 20%, or around 80,000, of Nebraska's birthing-age women live in a county that lacks adequate maternal care. Because of this, Dr. Ann Anderson Berry, director of the Child Health Research Institute at UNMC, told the Health and Human Services Committee that many women have to make "heartbreaking" choices over the course of their pregnancy.

Some of these difficult choices include deciding whether or not they can afford to miss work, whether they can obtain childcare to attend a faraway maternal health appointment, and whether or not such appointments can be skipped occasionally. "When you can't get health care in your community," said Anderson Berry, "the decision to seek care gets more complicated."

For the full article click HERE