Impact of Policy Change of Health Care System, Nurses, & Patients

    The effect HR 605 has on the health care system would stem from the increased need of for money from the government,  particularly to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover pregnant women and unborn children. The monetary needs may have to be met by the government, potentially taking away from other programs and areas of the health care system. Grants would be needed to increase public awareness of resources available to pregnant women. The government would have to work with health insurance companies to cover women with already-existing pregnancies and make sure that they cover the unborn children and the newborns. Separate grants would also have to be allocated to individual states based on the needs to cover support for pregnant and parenting teens. Government money would also be used to increase the monetary funds give to the WIC (women’s infant’s and children’s) food stamp program. Education will also be a huge change, but again, will require more money to get nurses out into the community and providing patients the information they need. Nurses will have to  increase prenatal education for mothers and families by nurses, both in private homes and in the community.  The bill authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make grants to increase public awareness of resources available to pregnant women to carry their pregnancy to term and new parents. With an increase in education and care by nurses during the prenatal phase of pregnancy birthing complications, length of hospital stay and expenses would decrease from the current astronomical price of $5.8 billion spent on preterm/low birth rate babies (Russel et al). 

     Nurses will also have to work with other interdisciplinary teams in order to promote effectiveness of this bill. Nurses will have to work in partnership with teachers for early childhood education programs and to work with pregnant/parenting teens to complete high schools and prepare for further education. Nurses will have to collaborate with other organizations such as social work, adoptive programs, insurance companies, poverty and welfare assistance. With the passing of this legislative bill, it will enhance the need to train, hire, and educate more nurses in hope to reducing abortion rates and promote healthy births.

    The Pregnant Women's Support Act will also have a large influence on the clientele at risk; the pregnant woman and her child. If this bill is passed, pregnant women all over the country will have more and better access to education and resources which will benefit not only them but also their children. As stated before, WIC is a very important part of HR 605. With the passing of this bill, WIC will be more available to families who need it and this can have a huge impact on the mother and child. In an article found in Maternal and Child Health Journal, it was shown that the more access women have to WIC and the longer they stay in the program, the less likely they are to have a small for gestational age (SGA) infant (Gueorguieva, Morse, and Roth, 2009). In addition to WIC, general prenatal teaching is very important to the outcome of a pregnancy. The Pregnant Women's Support Act is dedicated to increasing prenatal education in order to decrease the number of and need for abortions. HR 605 is an incredibly important bill with the power to enrich the lives of many.