A recently approved biomarker test can help pinpoint which patients are at highest risk for preeclampsia, which is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in Georgia.
Champions of the test hail it as a life-saving tool that takes the guesswork out of identifying which patients are developing the hypertensive disorder that only occurs during and after pregnancy.
But access to the test may still be limited, partly because it is a relatively new tool in the United States. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved biomarker testing for preeclampsia last year, though the test has been used for nearly a decade in Europe.
State lawmakers passed a broad biomarker testing bill last year, but state Rep. Darlene Taylor, who says she had preeclampsia, sponsored a bill earlier this year that would have specifically required all health benefit policies in Georgia to cover biomarker testing for preeclampsia.
That proposal ended up stalling, but Taylor, who chairs the House committee overseeing spending on health services, said she made sure funding was put in the budget to cover the testing for Medicaid enrollees. Nearly half of childbirths in Georgia are covered by Medicaid, according to KFF Health News.