FRANKFORT — Members of the Senate Health Services Committee voted unanimously Thursday to advance the maternal health bill which supporters call “Momnibus.”?

Momnibus — or House Bill 10 — came out of a bipartisan summer working group of female lawmakers who looked into Kentucky’s dismal maternal mortality and how to address it. Male lawmakers have since signed on as co-sponsors.

Primary sponsor Rep. Kim Moser, R-Taylor Mill, said Kentucky’s many poor health points like diabetes, mental illness and heart disease can be “made more difficult during a pregnancy and can cause dangerous situations.”?

“Deaths due to any of these factors are usually preventable,” said Moser, a retired nurse. “Ways to prevent these deaths are to identify and treat these diseases early in pregnancy if not before. This is why prenatal care is so critical.”?

This bill would incentivize Kentuckians to get that prenatal care by adding pregnancy to the list of qualifying life events for health insurance coverage, among other things. It would also launch a hotline, staffed with a psychiatrist and psychologist, that medical providers can call if they’re serving a patient with mental health needs.?

Momnibus passed the House on March 5. Now that it’s passed the Senate committee, it can head to the floor for consideration. Should it pass there, it can go to Gov. Andy Beshear’s desk for a veto or signature.??