Births to Mothers With Medicaid Coverage: Smoking During Pregnancy, 2005

Women who smoke during pregnancy are at risk for pregnancy complications, preterm birth, low birthweight infants, stillbirth, and infant death. Among births in 2005, 15 percent of HUSKY A mothers smoked during pregnancy, compared to 7 percent of those with FFS Medicaid coverage and 3 percent of all other mothers. Babies born to mothers in HUSKY A who smoked were about twice as likely to be low birthweight (15%), compared to babies born to non-smokers (7%). This brief recommends that Connecticut’s Medicaid program should cover effective treatments for tobacco dependence and that HUSKY A contracts with managed care plans should specify that plans are responsible for providing these services for pregnant women and children.