After years of delay, Assembly passes Gail's Law and postpartum Medicaid expansion

The rare chance to celebrate a bipartisan victory over meaningful legislation passed by the State Assembly was tempered by the understanding that the delay in getting it done surely resulted in the preventable deaths of many women.

“Six years this has been working through this house,” lamented Karen DeSanto (D-Baraboo), even as the Wisconsin State Assembly was set to pass the Postpartum Medicaid Expansion bill on Thursday. “We need to do this faster, because in six years, can you imagine the people we have lost, the future legislators, the future teachers, hell, even a President of the United States.

“To turn these kinds of things into political fodder and make women the crux of that is wrong. We really need to reevaluate ourselves. But I'm here to celebrate this too. It is great for the women ahead of us, but let's not forget the women behind us as we move forward.”

Postpartum Medicaid Expansion will expand coverage for low-income mothers from 60 days to 12 months after the baby is born, considered the high-risk post-birth period, especially in regard to the mental health of the mother.

The other key women’s health bill long pushed for by Democrats in the state legislature was Gail’s Law, which will require private insurance and Medicaid to cover diagnostic breast examinations and supplemental screenings for women with heightened risk of developing breast cancer. It would eliminate co-pays and deductibles and include imaging technologies such as MRIs and ultrasounds. It, too, passed the Assembly on Thursday.

Both pieces of legislation have already passed the Senate and are expected to be signed into law by Gov. Evers.

Gail’s Law, first introduced five years ago, is named for Neenah advocate Gail Zeamer who died from breast cancer in 2024 after a standard mammogram failed to detect her tumor due to dense breast tissue.

“I have had so many constituents reach out to me, both as women who were patients and who are nurses caring for those who are undergoing treatment for breast cancer and say thank you for fighting for us,” said Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton), who looked to the Zeamer family and thanked them for keeping the issue alive. “All credit goes to the family. I always tell people that nothing happens in this chamber without public pressure. 

“People build policy, so if anybody listening ever doubts that they can't make a difference and that government is just too dysfunctional, please see this as an example of a time when perseverance, dedication and commitment has truly made a difference in the lives of women.”

Snodgrass recounted her own experience of having to decide if it was safer to drive that winter on dangerously worn-out tires or to pay for additional diagnostics after her mammogram came back inconclusive.

Years of delays

Though there was a sense of joy and relief across the aisle on Thursday at the near unanimous votes for both bills (Shae Sortwell voted against the postpartum legislation), Democrats admonished the Assembly over the years and years of delays at even allowing a vote on what they say is humane and common-sense legislation.

Since Republicans took the majority in 2011 they have typically refused to bring bills to a vote if it required any Democratic Party support, even if those bills enjoyed wide popular support. Speaker Robin Vos, who announced his retirement on the day the bills passed, has been a rigid gatekeeper, often defying his own party to keep legislation from reaching the Assembly floor or even receiving a hearing. 

Republicans also felt pressure from lobbyists from the insurance industry over their stated concern that enhanced breast screenings were unnecessary. The GOP has also typically been reticent about any expansion of Medicaid coverage in the state.

With the current legislative session nearing its end, Democrats felt an urgency to keep the pressure on, going so far as to attach amendments for the two bills onto unrelated legislation on Wednesday to try to make their points.

Snodgrass, for instance, tried to attach a Gail’s Law amendment to a bill regarding regulation of amusement rides, while Ann Roe did the same thing on a bill regarding tax exemptions. While Republicans decried this as spectacle and assured the chamber that the Speaker was on board to bring the two bills forward, Democrats stuck to their guns, taking no chances after so many delays.

Wisconsin became the 49th state to pass a bill allowing one full year of postpartum coverage. Arkansas is the lone holdout. 

Honoring those who lost their lives

Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) spoke to the racial inequity in all birth-related health matters.

“As a former Dane County Board supervisor and as your current state representative of the 78th I have been sounding the alarm about our state's pressing racial disparities in maternal and infant mortality and morbidity rates in Wisconsin,” she said. “Black mothers are five times more likely than white mothers to die from pregnancy or childbirth, and black babies are three times more likely than white babies to die before they turn one years old.”

She went on to stress that mothers need care throughout that first year against such things as hypertension, blood clots, hemorrhaging, seizures and poor mental health.

“Without a healthy mother, you cannot have a healthy child,” she said. “And without a healthy child, you cannot have a healthy community.”

Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) echoed Rep. DeSanto when she expressed her happiness at the passage of the bills while reminding the Assembly what has been lost.

“I do want to pause and honor the Wisconsin women who have died because this Legislature could have passed postpartum Medicaid expansion long before now, but didn't,” she said. “I want to take a moment and honor the women who lost their lives, the children who lost their mothers, the parents who buried their daughters, and the spouses and loved ones who had to figure out how to carry on, because this Legislature didn't act when we could have, and we should have.

“Today is also a very good day.”

 After years of delay, Assembly passes Gail's Law and postpartum Medicaid expansion © 2026 by Kelly Fenton is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0