{"id":30433,"date":"2026-08-04T10:55:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=30433"},"modified":"2026-08-04T10:55:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:55:35","slug":"sen-ossoff-calls-on-trump-administration-to-improve-access-to-maternal-care-in-georgia","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-calls-on-trump-administration-to-improve-access-to-maternal-care-in-georgia\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ossoff Calls on Trump Administration to Improve Access to Maternal Care in Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is calling on the Trump Administration to improve access to maternal care in Georgia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, Sen. Ossoff is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Letter-to-CMS-on-maternal-health-ghost-networks.pdf\">demanding answers<\/a>&nbsp;from Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oig.hhs.gov\/documents\/evaluation\/11709\/OEI-05-24-00090.pdf\">found<\/a>&nbsp;that the three largest health insurance companies have inaccurate Medicaid Managed Care provider directories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The independent&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oig.hhs.gov\/documents\/evaluation\/11709\/OEI-05-24-00090.pdf\">HHS OIG report<\/a>&nbsp;found that these directories&nbsp;<a>included&nbsp;<\/a>some maternal health providers that were not actually in-network, listed incorrect contact information for some in-network providers, and were missing some in-network providers altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These \u201cghost providers\u201d make it difficult for more than 1.5 million Georgians\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/medicaid\/state-indicator\/total-medicaid-mco-enrollment\/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D\">enrolled in a Medicaid Managed Care plan<\/a> to find an in-network provider and risk further delays for those who need access to crucial prenatal and postpartum care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cFor pregnant women, time is of the essence to ensure a safe and healthy pregnancy. It is critical that they be able to find a provider that is in-network and available near them to receive timely prenatal care. I urge the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to take immediate action to ensure states and Medicaid MCO plans have accurate provider directories, especially for patients seeking prenatal and postpartum care,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Ossoff wrote to Administrator Oz.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff continues working to strengthen health care for Georgia mothers and children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year, Sens. Ossoff and Rev. Warnock brought Republicans and Democrats together to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sens-ossoff-rev-warnock-upgrading-health-care-services-across-metro-atlanta-north-georgia\/\">deliver<\/a>\u00a0$476,000 in Federal funding to help Emory University purchase equipment for the NICU at Emory Decatur Hospital and to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/senators-rev-warnock-ossoff-upgrading-rural-health-care-across-southwest-georgia\/\">deliver<\/a> $1,581,000 in Federal funding to help SGMC Health purchase medical equipment to expand access to maternal and infant care for families across South Georgia through their new Women and Infants Tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In April, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-working-to-improve-maternal-health-for-black-women-in-georgia-2\/\">cosponsored<\/a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;<em>Social Determinants for Moms Act<\/em>&nbsp;to improve maternal health outcomes and reduce the maternal mortality rate in Georgia and across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In May 2025, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/new-report-georgia-obgyns-report-observing-cases-where-georgia-abortion-ban-led-women-to-suffer-health-complications-or-die\/\">released<\/a>&nbsp;new findings from his investigation into the impacts of Georgia\u2019s 6-week abortion ban, in which Georgia OBGYNs revealed they had personally encountered cases in which Georgia\u2019s six-week abortion ban contributed to a health complication or death of the mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last March, Sen. Ossoff and other members of Congress&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-demanding-answers-from-the-trump-administration-on-abrupt-shutdown-of-cdcs-maternal-health-monitoring-system\/\">demanded<\/a>&nbsp;the Trump Administration provide answers on the reported shutdown of a critical Maternal Health data system at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last February, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=GeQksIkgQR0\">introduced<\/a>&nbsp;an amendment to protect children\u2019s and maternal health care through Medicaid that Senate Republicans blocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2024, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-pushing-to-expand-maternal-health-care-for-military-moms\/\">launched<\/a>&nbsp;a push to pass the<em>&nbsp;MOMS Who Serve Act of 2024<\/em>, legislation he co-sponsored to help moms in the armed forces access perinatal health care services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also in 2024, as Chair of the Senate Human Rights Subcommittee, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.judiciary.senate.gov\/committee-activity\/hearings\/health-impacts-of-abortion-ban-on-georgia-women\">convened<\/a>&nbsp;two public hearings at which Georgia women and Georgia OBGYNs testified to the harmful impacts of Georgia\u2019s abortion ban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Letter-to-CMS-on-maternal-health-ghost-networks.pdf\">Click here<\/a>&nbsp;to read Sen. Ossoff\u2019s inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"># # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is calling on the Trump Administration to improve access to maternal care in Georgia. Today, Sen. Ossoff is&nbsp;demanding answers&nbsp;from Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General&nbsp;found&nbsp;that the three largest [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30433","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/30433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/30433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30434,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/30433\/revisions\/30434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}