Federal laws require most employer-sponsored plans and all ACA-compliant individual insurance plans, including those available through the Marketplaces, to cover maternity services including pregnancy, childbirth, and newborn care. Cost sharing may apply to some maternity services. These plans also must cover prenatal visits and screenings, folic acid supplements, tobacco cessation counseling and interventions, and breastfeeding services without any cost-sharing because they are considered preventive services. All state Medicaid programs cover maternity care without cost-sharing to low-income women who qualify for coverage.

Short-term health insurance policies do not have to provide benefits required by the ACA, such as preventive services and maternity care, and most short-term plans exclude maternity services. Health care sharing ministries, which are membership groups usually affiliated with a religion that help members pay for health care (not insurance), are also not subject to ACA benefit requirements, including maternity.