Patients Say Costs, Access Drive Maternal Health Crisis in GA

Poor healthcare access, cost bar good maternal outcomes

The problem of poor maternal health outcomes is salient in the state of Georgia, the survey found, and it’s mostly because healthcare is too expensive to be accessible, survey respondents indicated.

Around half (54 percent) of respondents said that healthcare affordability is the top barrier to care, even when an individual has insurance. And even when someone can afford healthcare, it’s not always available. Just over a quarter (28 percent) of patients said they have trouble getting to appointments because there aren’t enough appointment slots for them.

But it’s not just cost that’s getting in the way of good outcomes. Substance use disorders (47 percent), lack of insurance (47 percent), and mental health issues (41 percent) emerged as the top factors that Georgians think can contribute to a higher risk for maternal mortality.

Still, adequate healthcare access is necessary to address those issues, and as long as healthcare is unaffordable, that access may falter.

In terms of disparities in maternal health outcomes—Black women are three times more likely to die from childbirth in Georgia compared to their White counterparts—many Georgians can acknowledge the role that implicit and explicit bias can play. Nearly six in 10 (61 percent) said the US healthcare industry treats people unfairly at least somewhat often because of their racial or ethnic background or because of how well they speak English.

To that end, a third of respondents (36 percent) said that racism is a major obstacle to achieving equitable health outcomes, a figure that ticks up to 49 percent when looking only at Black respondents.

Respondents also cited income-based discrimination that can get in the way of a good healthcare interaction.

Georgians push for better health equity

Despite healthcare’s pitfalls (70 percent expressed concern about the current state of maternal health), 74 percent of survey respondents expressed hope that policy change could yield better clinical outcomes.

State leaders and policymakers should begin by focusing on the healthcare affordability issue, survey participants said. About three-quarters (73 percent) said that improving the affordability of maternal healthcare could move the needle on maternal mortality, while 70 percent said that improving access to health insurance coverage could do the same.

The vast majority of respondents (87 percent) said it is important for the state of Georgia to conduct more research into health disparities to better understand them. That will help state policymakers tailor interventions to address disparities in maternal health outcomes, which 82 percent of respondents said is the key next step.

These survey findings were presented as part of the inaugural Symposium to Address the Maternal Health Crisis in Georgia, at which key industry stakeholders convened to discuss strategies to remediate inequity.

“This survey puts a public health perspective on the challenges posed by the maternal health crisis. Hearing from Georgians who are personally experiencing these challenges gives us a window into potential solutions that will make a real difference across the state,” Ravi I. Thadhani, MD, MPH, executive vice president for health affairs at Emory University, said in a statement about the Symposium.

“That is why we are thankful for the opportunity this symposium provides to come together with these other fine institutions and to partner on creating a path toward measurable progress,” Thadhani added. “We can’t do that as single institutions; we have to do it collaboratively and by speaking with one voice.”