States’ Essential Health Benefits Coverage Could Advance Maternal Health Equity April 30, 2021, 10:00 am The Affordable Care Act (ACA) greatly improved coverage of maternity health services. In particular, 20 million people have gained coverage, financial assistance has become available to purchase coverage, and the quality of coverage offered has been improved. But there are still significant differences among states in the prenatal, labor and delivery, and postpartum services covered. Specifically, the ACA requires small group and individual market plans to cover maternity and newborn care among the required essential health benefits (EHBs), but states are able to select a benchmark plan to define the specific services covered under each category. The state benchmark plan can set an important standard for plans offered in the state; unfortunately, however, the authors’ assessment of plans in every state and Washington, D.C., found that the maternity and newborn services offered frequently have limits that could impede birthing people’s access to care.