half of all maternal deaths occur at delivery or in the first postpartum year, whereas just more than one-third of pregnancy-related or pregnancy-associated deaths occur while a person is still pregnant. Yet, for women eligible for the Medicaid program on the basis of pregnancy, such Medicaid coverage lapses at the end of the month on which the 60th postpartum day lands. (14) Timely maternity care and adequate postpartum care can reduce short- and long-term health care costs. If a woman does not have access to affordable maternity care during her pregnancy, and she or her newborn experiences pregnancy complications that result in health problems after birth, their insurer may end up paying much higher costs than if the insurer had covered the woman’s maternity care during her pregnancy. Intensive maternity care can reduce hospital and neonatal intensive care unit admissions among infants, resulting in cost savings of $1,768 to $5,560 per birth. For women with high-risk pregnancies, intensive maternity care saves $1.37 for every $1 invested in maternity care. (b) Purpose The purpose of this Act is to protect the health of women and newborns by ensuring that all women eligible for coverage through the Exchanges established under title I of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ( Public Law 111–148 ) and women eligible for other individual or group health plan coverage can access affordable health coverage during their pregnancy. 3. Providing for a special enrollment period for pregnant individuals (a) Public Health Service Act Section 2702(b)(2) of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300gg–1(b)(2) ) is amended by inserting , including a special enrollment period for pregnant individuals, beginning on the date on which the pregnancy is reported to the health insurance issuer before the period at the end. (b) Patient protection and affordable care act Section 1311(c)(6) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ( 42 U.S.C. 18031(c)(6) ) is amended— (1) in subparagraph (C), by striking and at