Last year, one of our Delfina moms was rushed to the hospital with severely elevated blood pressure. None of her doctors saw it coming — her blood pressure was normal at all of her appointments, and she had no history of preeclampsia. Luckily, she had also been tracking her blood pressure with the Delfina app between appointments, so when the app alerted her that her blood pressure was in a concerning range, she was able to get help quickly.

She had to give birth over two months before her due date, but because we caught her high blood pressure when we did, she and her baby ended up safe and healthy.

Even her doctor knew it was a close call: the neonatologist said, “If you guys would have waited two more weeks, she probably wouldn't have a baby.’”

This story could have had a very different ending. Not just without Delfina — but without Medicaid.

This mom, like almost all of the people that we serve, was only eligible for health insurance because of the Medicaid expansion of the last decade. She otherwise likely would’ve been uninsured and unable to access any prenatal care — let alone access the lifesaving, proactive notifications and predictive analytics that Delfina provides to supplement traditional OBGYN services.

When we first started building Delfina, as a team, we chose to focus our initial efforts on supporting Medicaid populations. It was not the most glamorous route and certainly not the easiest. Three years ago, so many investors, founders, and mentors repeatedly told me that it was impossible to break even, let alone build a valuable business in Medicaid, that Medicaid was “not innovative,” and that we’d never be funded. But here we are, getting paid to serve thousands with the most cutting-edge product and creating massive value for our Medicaid partners.

We’re betting on Medicaid. Here’s why you should, too.

I saw the effect that a lack of insurance coverage could have on a pregnancy first-hand when I worked at a student-run clinic for immigrant patients during medical school. One of my pregnant patients was uninsured, and her approach to doctors’ appointments was to avoid bills at all costs. Even when we told her about the clinic’s free offerings, like working with a registered dietitian, she would turn us down just in case we were wrong.  

She had gestational diabetes and ended up having a very large (macrosomic) baby. It was a challenging pregnancy and a difficult delivery. But it could have been far easier if she had access to the care she needed.

At Delfina, we’ve developed predictive models to help moms who may be at high risk for gestational diabetes before it even gets that far. With the technology we have today, paired with early lifestyle interventions, so many more people can avoid the outcome that the mom I worked with a decade ago experienced. But only if they have access to that care.

Seeing her experience, and that of many others so deeply affected by insufficient insurance coverage, solidified my belief that to solve our significant public health challenges, we must build systems to bring down these barriers — starting with the populations that need it most.

Medicaid may not be perfect. But Medicaid access saves lives today — particularly when made maximally efficient and effective with cutting-edge technology like Delfina’s. The proposed shift towards a system based on value-based care will benefit patients while saving money for our system, which is well aligned with Delfina’s objectives. By using technology to address complications proactively, we reduce costly NICU stays that are more common among Medicaid patients.

In Minnesota, where I live, I met with some Medicaid members using the Delfina platform. While asking them how they liked the app, we talked about Medicaid. They said they didn’t want the government to spend their money or get involved in their healthcare.

Initially, I was confused — until I realized that they had no idea that they were on Medicaid. I told them that Delfina was available to them through Medicaid, and one mom told me she was surprised to hear that Medicaid is behind these kinds of helpful programs.

This mom didn’t associate Medicaid with the care she was receiving from Delfina because she, like many others, had a negative opinion of it—some think of it as a government hand-out and not a very good one at that. But suppose we start prioritizing personalized, attentive, and innovative care – what she loved about Delfina Care. In that case, we can change the reality and the perception of Medicaid into a necessary and effective pillar of our societal structure, like a K-12 public school program. This public good allows everyone to thrive.

Pregnancy in the U.S. is already dangerous. Black and Indigenous women die from pregnancy-related causes at far higher rates than white women, even when they’re wealthy. Medicaid is our safety net for many of these moms and families, providing critical access to cae for 1.5 million births in 2023. Medicaid certainly has room for improvement. If we focus on providing care for those who need it most while prioritizing performance and efficiency, we can save costs and save lives at the same time.

The maternal health crisis is too dire to go backward on Medicaid coverage. We must go forward to build an equitable, efficient, and effective system with Medicaid as a cornerstone.