Federal report puts Alaska's maternal death rate above the national rate but warns the count is small

Alaska's maternal death rate is higher than the nation's, according to a federal report released Thursday, but the report warns the Alaska number rests on too few deaths to carry much weight.

The Government Accountability Office counted 17 maternal deaths in Alaska from 2018 through 2024, a rate of 25.7 per 100,000 births. The national rate was 21.8. With so few deaths, the likely range around Alaska's rate runs from about 15 to 41, so the true figure could sit below the national rate or near double it. A footnote says the rate "should be interpreted with caution."

The federal count also covers only deaths within 42 days after a pregnancy ends, while state review committees look at the full year. Alaska's own review, published in 2025, examined 16 deaths during or within a year of pregnancy from 2021 through 2024 and found all but one preventable. Substance use contributed to 13 of them, mental health conditions to 11 and discrimination to 10.

Alaska's committee was one of 10 the office studied. Nationally, the report says, Black and American Indian and Alaska Native women die at 2.5 or more times the rate of White women. Nine of the 10 committees made recommendations on that gap, including one calling for American Indian and Alaska Native representation in planning maternity care. As of June, the CDC and tribal partners were exploring a tribally led review committee.

At a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing July 15, Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Native communities need to be "adequately represented in the data."

Five committees told GAO their states extended Medicaid for new mothers to a full year on committee recommendations. Alaska did so under a bill Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced and signed in July 2023, extending postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months and raising the income limit for pregnant women. The new coverage took effect Feb. 1, 2024.

The CDC plans about $134 million for review committees in 52 states and territories through 2029, but as of July 1 had not set aside money to evaluate the program.