The California Medicaid program covers abortion services, yet many women using Medicaid travel long distances to obtain abortion care, particularly rural women, women seeking abortions at hospitals, and women seeking abortions in the 2nd trimester or later. Those who travel long distances for abortion are more likely to seek follow-up care at an emergency department and less likely to return to the original abortion provider thus increasing costs of follow-up care. Increasing the number and distribution of rural Medicaid abortion providers and reimbursing providers for telemedicine and other alternatives to in-person follow-up could reduce costs to the health care system.
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This is the first study to examine the relationship between distance traveled for abortion and where women seek any potential follow-up care. By analyzing data from 39,747 abortions covered by Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, in 2011 and 2012, researchers found that women who traveled 100 miles or more for an abortion were more than twice as likely as women traveling 25 miles or fewer to seek any potential subsequent care at an emergency department.