We gratefully acknowledge funding from NIH (R03 HD100709-02 and R01 AG055481-01). The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.

In this paper, we test whether the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansions are associated with maternal morbidity. The ACA expansions may have affected maternal morbidity by increasing pre‐conception access to health care, and by improving the quality of delivery care, through enhancing hospitals' financial positions. We use difference‐in‐difference models in conjunction with event studies. Data come from individual‐level birth certificates and state‐level hospital discharge data. The results show little evidence that the expansions are associated with overall maternal morbidity or indicators of specific adverse events including eclampsia, ruptured uterus, and unplanned hysterectomy. The results are consistent with prior research showing that the ACA Medicaid expansions are not statistically associated with pre‐pregnancy health or maternal health during pregnancy. Our results add to this story and find little evidence of improvements in maternal health upon delivery.