The number of women who die in the U.S. because of complications related to pregnancy is shockingly high – nearly 30 deaths for every 100,000 births each year. But some women die at higher rates than others: the maternal mortality rate for black women is three to four times higher than it is for white women.

On this episode of The Dose, the Commonwealth Fund’s Laurie Zephyrin, M.D., and Akeiisa Coleman talk about one way to address this crisis: Medicaid, which pays for nearly half the 4 million births in the U.S. each year. States have a real opportunity, they say, to take innovative steps to improve the care pregnant women and new mothers receive through their Medicaid programs.