Uncared For

The maternal mortality rate in the United States is more than double that of our peers. How can we get maternal care right? In this season of Uncared For, we’ll learn from parents, doctors, midwives, and experts about why our system is so dangerously behind other countries. We’ll explore how places like Germany, the Netherlands, and Costa Rica are providing comprehensive and equitable care, and what the US can do better so that fewer pregnant people end up as statistics.   Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The maternal mortality rate in the United States is more than double that of our peers – and it’s especially high among Black birthing people. In the first episode of Uncared For, we’ll hear from health equity researchers, birth providers – like the postpartum doula who was there for SuChin – and Black mothers who have been dismissed and misdiagnosed in our broken system of care. How did our system end up like this? And what does this crisis tell us about how our healthcare system stacks up globally? Learn more about Brandi Jordan’s doula work on The Cradle Company’s website: https://www.thecradlecompany.com/about-us/. Listen to Brandi’s podcast, Dear Doula, here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dear-doula/id1586752064. Looking for a birth or postpartum doula? Check out these resources: https://doulamatch.net/search https://www.dona.org/what-is-a-doula/find-a-doula/  Want to read more about Dr. Rachel Hardeman’s research? Check out the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity: https://carhe.umn.edu/. Read about the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative that Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell leads: https://ldh.la.gov/page/3737  Learn more about Dr. Whitney Polk here: https://whitneypolk.com/. Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org. SuChin Pak is our host. Muna Danish is our supervising producer. Giulia Hjort is our producer and Rachel Lightner is our producer and audio engineer. Isaura Aceves is our associate producer. Mix help from Kristin Mueller. Music is by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Our story consultant is Kaya Henderson. Fact-checking by Naomi Barr. Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.  Follow SuChin on Twitter and Instagram at @suchinpak. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.  Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is abortion care healthcare? In the United States, the answer to that question depends entirely on your ZIP code. In this episode, we’ll hear from two women, one in Texas and the other in New York, both working against the clock to access an abortion.  How do abortion restrictions impact pregnant people’s healthcare? What does it mean to be treated with dignity and compassion? And what is at stake for pregnant people and medical providers in this country?   Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org. SuChin Pak is our host. Muna Danish is our supervising producer. Giulia Hjort is our producer and Rachel Lightner is our producer and audio engineer. Isaura Aceves is our associate producer. Mix help from Kristin Mueller. Music is by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Our story consultant is Kaya Henderson. Fact-checking by Naomi Barr. Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs.  Follow SuChin on Twitter and Instagram at @suchinpak. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  Learn more about maternal mortality review committees in your state here: https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/maternal-mortality-review-committees. Learn more about Kathy Kleinfeld’s clinic, the Houston Women’s Reproductive Services, here: https://houstonwomensreproductiveservices.com/. Looking for abortion care? Search state-by-state information using the links below:  https://www.abortionfinder.org/  https://prochoice.org/patients/find-a-provider/  https://www.plannedparenthood.org/abortion-access  Want more information on safe, at-home abortion pills? Visit: https://www.plancpills.org/.  You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.  Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On our first stop in the “healthcare world tour,” we travel to Germany, where midwives are a legal right, childcare is subsidized, and parents are reimbursed for childcare costs. We’ll shadow a midwife on a home visit to newborn twins and their parents, and meet an American mom who left the U.S. to reap the German benefits. But is it too good to be true? We’ll learn what challenges midwives are up against, like a labor shortage that could upend the care they’re able to provide.  Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org. SuChin Pak is our host. Muna Danish is our supervising producer. Giulia Hjort is our producer and Rachel Lightner is our producer and audio engineer. Isaura Aceves is our associate producer. Mix help from Kristin Mueller. Music is by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Our story consultant is Kaya Henderson. Fact-checking by Naomi Barr. Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Follow SuChin on Twitter and Instagram at @suchinpak. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.  Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date. A previous version of this story stated that Caitlin’s son died after a few days at home. The episode has been edited to reflect the fact that he passed away immediately after birth.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we travel east to the Netherlands. Here, midwives and “kraamzorgs,” or postnatal maternity aides, help parents during every step of the pregnancy journey. We’ll meet expecting parents trying out a new type of group-based care, hear from an American journalist about the the hands-on postpartum support she received in her own home, and meet a midwife prioritizing maternal care for undocumented immigrants. Learn more about the Amstermam midwifery practice: https://amstermam.nl/over-ons/  Learn more about the Bijlmermeer Birth Center: https://verloskundigenpraktijkbijlmermeer.nl/en/  Interested in the history of the Bijlmermeer neighborhood? Listen to an episode of 99% Invisible that’s all about it: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/bijlmer-city-future-part-1/  Look into centering care in the US: https://centeringhealthcare.org/what-we-do/centering-pregnancy  Read more of Dr. Ank de Jonge’s research: https://research.vumc.nl/en/persons/ank-de-jonge  Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org. SuChin Pak is our host. Muna Danish is our supervising producer. Giulia Hjort is our producer and Rachel Lightner is our producer and audio engineer. Isaura Aceves is our associate producer. Mix help from Kristin Mueller. Music is by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Our story consultant is Kaya Henderson. Fact-checking by Naomi Barr. Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Follow SuChin on Twitter and Instagram at @suchinpak. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.  Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we head to Costa Rica, the final destination on our maternal health “world tour,” where we explore the country’s unique community-based model of care. We’ll travel into the mountains with a community health worker to check up on a pregnant woman, and then head to the western coast, where we meet a doctor providing care to a small fishing village. Along the way, we’ll learn how the country’s healthcare reforms helped to expand access to rural areas and overcome high rates of child and maternal mortality. Learn more about Costa Rica’s healthcare model here:  https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/case-study/2021/mar/community-oriented-primary-care-lessons-costa-rica https://www.ariadnelabs.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/CostaRica-Report-12-19-2017.pdf  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/30/costa-ricans-live-longer-than-we-do-whats-the-secret Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org. SuChin Pak is our host. Muna Danish is our supervising producer. Giulia Hjort is our producer and Rachel Lightner is our producer and audio engineer. Isaura Aceves is our associate producer. Mix help from Kristin Mueller. Music is by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Our story consultant is Kaya Henderson. Fact-checking by Naomi Barr. Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Follow SuChin on Twitter and Instagram at @suchinpak. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.  Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our last episode, we return stateside to see how the Minneapolis-based Roots Community Birth Center is reimagining maternal care by prioritizing strong relationships and culturally centered care. We also learn about how midwives were once the go-to providers in American maternal care, but eventually became obsolete when doctors entered the picture. So what can we do to bring them back? And what would it take to open up a Roots in every state? Learn more about the Roots Community Birth Center here: https://www.rootsbirthcenter.com/  Read about the Commonwealth Fund’s research on community-based maternal care models here: https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2021/mar/community-models-improve-maternal-outcomes-equity  Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org. SuChin Pak is our host. Muna Danish is our supervising producer. Giulia Hjort is our producer and Rachel Lightner is our producer and audio engineer. Isaura Aceves is our associate producer. Mix help from Kristin Mueller. Music is by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Our story consultant is Kaya Henderson. Fact-checking by Naomi Barr. Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Follow SuChin on Twitter and Instagram at @suchinpak. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.  Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One year after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, we sit down with two women working in the reproductive rights space to talk about what has changed, and what’s still to come.    Resources: Learn more about the Roots Community Birth Center: https://www.rootsbirthcenter.com/  Read research from RHITES: https://www.rhites.org/  Looking for reproductive legal help? Check out If When How: https://www.ifwhenhow.org/  Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org. SuChin Pak is our host. This bonus episode was produced by Giulia Hjort and mixed by Bobby Woody. Music is by Andrea Kristinsdottir. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Follow SuChin on Twitter and Instagram at @suchinpak. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.  Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insurance plays a big role in deciding the kind of health care we receive in this country – and how much it’ll cost us. Today, we’re speaking with ProPublica reporter Maya Miller about wrongful insurance denials and knowing your rights as a patient.   Resources: Read Maya and other ProPublica reporters’ coverage of insurance denials here: UnitedHealthcare tried to deny coverage to a chronically ill patient. He fought back, exposing the insurer’s inner workings: https://www.propublica.org/article/unitedhealth-healthcare-insurance-denial-ulcerative-colitis  How Cigna saves millions by having its doctors reject claims without reading them: https://www.propublica.org/article/cigna-pxdx-medical-health-insurance-rejection-claims Health insurance claim denied? See what insurers said behind the scenes: https://www.propublica.org/article/find-out-why-health-insurance-claim-denied  You have a right to know why a health insurer denied your claim. Some insurers still won’t tell you: https://www.propublica.org/article/your-right-to-know-why-health-insurer-denied-claim How often do health insurers say no to patients? No one knows: https://www.propublica.org/article/how-often-do-health-insurers-deny-patients-claims  Insurance executives refused to pay for the cancer treatment that could have saved him. This is how they did it: https://www.propublica.org/article/priority-health-michigan-cart-insurance-vanpatten-denials  We asked prosecutors if health insurance companies care about fraud. They laughed at us: https://www.propublica.org/article/we-asked-prosecutors-if-health-insurance-companies-care-about-fraud-they-laughed-at-us  ProPublica’s Claim File Helper: https://projects.propublica.org/claimfile/    Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org. SuChin Pak is our host. This bonus episode was produced by Giulia Hjort and mixed by Bobby Woody. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Follow SuChin on Twitter and Instagram at @suchinpak. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.  Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why are millions of us – kids included – losing Medicaid coverage, oftentimes by accident? And how can we get it back? We’ll answer these questions with Medicaid expert Joan Alker, and hear Litha’s story – an Arkansas resident who lost coverage for five months, all while coping with life-threatening kidney failure.   Resources: For research and articles from Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families, visit: https://ccf.georgetown.edu/. Uncared For is presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation making grants to promote an equitable, high-performing health care system. Learn more at CommonwealthFund.org. SuChin Pak is our host. This bonus episode was produced by Giulia Hjort and mixed by Bobby Woody. Chrystal Genesis is our Supervising Producer. Jackie Danziger is our VP of Narrative Content. Executive producers are Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs. Follow SuChin on Twitter and Instagram at @suchinpak. Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.  You can also get premium content and behind the scenes material by subscribing to Lemonada Premium on Apple Podcasts.  Want to become a Lemonada superfan? Join us at https://joinsubtext.com/lemonadasuperfan.   Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and all other Lemonada series: lemonadamedia.com/sponsors. To follow along with a transcript, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/ shortly after the air date.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.