1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Healthy Maternity and Obstetric Medicine Act or the Healthy MOM Act . 2. Findings and purpose (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Pregnancy is a significant life event for millions of women in the United States each year. (2) For more than 30 years, our Nation, through the Medicaid program, has recognized that pregnant women need immediate access to affordable care, and has allowed women who meet income-eligibility requirements to enroll in Medicaid coverage when they become pregnant. (3) Congress recognized the central importance of maternity coverage by classifying maternity and newborn care as one of the ten essential health benefits that must now be covered on most individual and small group health insurance plans under section 1302(b)(1) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ( 42 U.S.C. 18022(b)(1) ). (4) The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has greatly increased access to affordable health insurance coverage for women. Today, more than 7,500,000 women have access to health insurance because of the law. That Act made it illegal to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, like pregnancy, or charge women more money for their premiums. That Act also required women’s preventive services like birth control to be covered without cost sharing. (5) Access to comprehensive maternity coverage allows women to access important pregnancy-related care, which is demonstrated to improve health outcomes for women and newborns and reduce financial costs for both consumers and insurers. (6) Uninsured women, women with grandfathered and transitional health plans, self-funded student health plans, and catastrophic and high-deductible health plans may lack access to comprehensive and affordable maternity coverage. (7) Employer health plans that exclude dependent daughters from maternity coverage leave young women without coverage for their pregnancy, even though Federal law has long held that treating pregnancy differently than other conditions