Medicaid and receipt of interval postpartum long-acting reversible contraception

Objective

We sought to evaluate the impact of insurance type on receipt of an interval postpartum LARC, controlling for demographic and clinical factors.

Study design

This is a retrospective cohort study of 1072 women with a documented plan of LARC for contraception at time of postpartum discharge. This is a secondary analysis of 8654 women who delivered at 20 weeks or beyond from January 1, 2012, through December 31, 2014, at an urban teaching hospital in Ohio. LARC receipt within 90 days of delivery, time to receipt, and rate of subsequent pregnancy after non-receipt were compared between women with Medicaid and women with private insurance. Postplacental LARC was not available at the time of study completion.

Results

One hundred eighty-seven of 822 Medicaid-insured and 43 of 131 privately insured women received a LARC postpartum (22.7% vs 32.8%, P=.02). In multivariable analysis, private insurance status was not significantly associated with LARC receipt (OR 1.29, 95% C.I. 0.83–1.99) though adequate prenatal care was (OR 2.33, 95% C.I. 1.42–4.00). Of women who wanted but did not receive a LARC, 208 of 635 (32.8%) Medicaid patients and 19 of 88 (21.6%) privately insured patients became pregnant within 1 year (P=.02).

Conclusion

Differences in receipt of interval postpartum LARC were not significant between women with Medicaid insurance versus private insurance after adjusting for clinical and demographic factors. Adequate prenatal care was associated with LARC receipt. Medicaid patients who did not receive a LARC were more likely to become pregnant within one year of delivery than those with private insurance.

Implications

While insurance-related barriers have been reduced given recent policy changes, access to care remains an important determinant of postpartum LARC provision and subsequent unintended pregnancy.