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Show 4 Most Frequently Reported Reasons for riot Seeking Early Prenatal Care: Factors Affecting The Possibility of Your Having a Low Birthweight Baby . Medical Q previous pregnancies that ended in miscarriage or a previous low birthweight baby, D a history of certain diseases in , your family; 3 a medical condition such as heart, kidney or breathing problems, high blood pressure, diabetes or certain infections; Prenatal Care For All Women to prenatal services is for some Utah who are out of the health care mainstream because of poverty, lack of health care insurance, inadequate education, : race, geography or culture. Some V obstacles exist within the health Access care delivery system itself. Social, Economic and Geographic Factors discouraged by the cost of having a baby and don't seek early prenatal care; age: if you are very young and pregnant you may not have access to information about good health habits; marital status: if you are single you are at increased risk due to stress and other social, economic and psychological factors; if you live in the rural areas of the Intermountain West, you may live a great distance from a doctor or hospital or medical personnel may be in short supply. Mother's Habits and Attitudes poor nutrition:your baby is nourished by the food you eat; lack of early and regular prenatal care; use of cigarettes, alcohol, medications and recreational drugs which may retard fetal development; unwillingness to admit you are pregnant until the signs become obvious, thus delaying medical care. These barriers to early care for all women are being eased by recent federal regulations which permits Medicaid coverage on the very day that pregnant women first seek maternity care. In the past, a pregnant woman could not enter care until she had actually qualified for Medicaid, a process which can take valuable time to complete-Physiciawho and provided care for these women did so without being assured any I f ns of money, including lack of understanding of maternity E3 lack average mrough insurance plans or other available financial In 1987, over 50 physicians in stopped delivering babies. joined the 38 doctors who dropped obstetrical services at the end of 1986. Why? Because they could no longer afford the price of liability (malpractice) insurance coverage. Twenty years ago, Utah obstetricians and family doctors who practiced obstetrics could buy assistance programs D unaware of the importance of early care with each pregnancy Q available care providers were unacceptable (for a variety of - reasons) unable to arrange transportation to nearest care provider E3 denial D fear of the pregnancy of discovery of the ' pregnancy O of information about the early symptoms of pregnancy lack nurse-midwiv- es t payment for services. Under this new "presumptive eligibility" plan a pregnant woman who meets certain financial guidelines will receive prenatal care from her first clinic visit and continuing care for up to 45 days or untu actual Medicaid eligibility has been confirmed or denied. A woman must visit one of several Qualified Provider Sites to have her eligibility for this program determined. In addition, she must file her Medicaid application within 14 days of her first visit To find out if you qualify for this program or for more information contact one of the Qualified Provider Sites on page 7. Who Will Deliver The Babies? (TO adequate liability insurance for just over $250 per year. This year they will pay well over $30,000. As a result, increasing numbers of physicians are faced with an unpleasant choice: either raise fees to cover the skyrocketing cost of liability insurance, or drop out of the baby business altogether. Malpractice does happen. And where a physician injures a patient through his or her negligence, the patient deserves compensation. But in a society where people are increasingly likely to resort to legal action, obstetricians are asking themselves if they must be responsible for nature's mistakes as well as their own. So who will deliver the babies? The problem has reached crisis proportions in Utah's rural areas. Many rural physicians have already stopped delivering babies. When an expectant mother from one of these areas needs prenatal care and goes into labor, she may often have to travel an extra 50, 100, even 150 miles to find a doctor or to care for her and her nurse-midwi- fe baby. It can be safe to have a baby today. Yet is has never been more financially risky for a doctor to deliver one. |