Rx Kids in Flint, Michigan, offers cash payments to pregnant people to help offset the financial costs of maternity care.
Photo by Tassil, courtesy of iStockphoto
Michigan resident Celeste Lord-Timlin was halfway through a demanding graduate program when she found out she was pregnant.
“I was very sick, not just morning sickness, but nausea all the time,” said Lord-Timlin, MBA, MSLOD. The health of the nation. “I realized I couldn’t be a full-time student anymore.”
But working part-time came at a high cost. Lord-Timlin lost her federal student aid and faced the possibility of dropping out or taking out a high-interest loan to pay for school. Then, at about 20 weeks pregnant, she applied online for Rx Kids, a no-strings-attached cash program in Flint, Michigan. He soon received a cash transfer of $1,500.
“That first $1,500 is what really saved me in terms of staying on track in my graduate program,” said Lord-Timlin, who gave birth to her daughter Siobhan in June 2024 and completed her MBA program in December.
Launched in a city with one of the highest rates of child poverty and racial disparities in maternal and child health in the country, Rx Kids is offered as a “prescription for health, hope and opportunity.” Under the program, all pregnant people in Flint are eligible for a one-time payment of $1,500 during the middle of the pregnancy, followed by $500 a month for 12 months after birth. There are no income limits or restrictions on how the money is spent.
Lord-Timlin used her monthly payments to help cover child care, which costs about $1,300 a month in Flint, as well as basic baby needs, such as diapers.
“Rx Kids really saved me in our time of need,” Lord-Timlin said. “It gave us the space to focus on being new parents and continue moving toward stability.”
Their experiences reflect the challenges that Mona Hanna, MD, MPH, sought to address when she helped launch Rx Kids in Flint in 2024.
“For so long as a pediatrician, I shrugged and said, ‘I can’t treat poverty,'” said Hanna, associate dean of public health at Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine. The health of the nation. “But if you keep asking why children are struggling, why families are struggling, you come back to the same root cause: socioeconomic conditions.”
Supported by a combination of public, philanthropic and local funding, the first-of-its-kind cash assistance program is administered by the nonprofit GiveDirectly and led by the Pediatric Public Health Initiative at Hurley Children’s Hospital at Michigan State University, in collaboration with Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan.
The program achieved near-universal participation in Flint and expanded to more than two dozen Michigan communities. The expansion comes as new research links Rx Kids to improvements in birth outcomes and family stability in Flint, where nearly 60% of children live in poverty, triple the national average.
A study published in the fall by Michigan State University and the University of Michigan linked the program to an 18% drop in premature births and a 27% reduction in low-birth-weight babies compared to the previous year. The study also reported a 29% decrease in neonatal intensive care unit admissions, translating to more than $6 million in healthcare savings. Researchers attributed the healthier outcomes to changes such as increased prenatal care and reduced smoking during pregnancy.
A second study, published in December in the journal APHA American Journal of Public Healthfound benefits beyond birth outcomes. Participating mothers experienced fewer evictions, improved food and diaper security, and a 14% drop in positive tests for postpartum depression. Many women also reported feeling respected, valued, and hopeful.
“What we decided to do was stop saying that we are okay with babies being born in poverty,” Hanna said. “This is as advanced as it gets. This is about critical public health. This is about supporting families during the poorest time of life, when expenses are rising.”
Other states are reaching out to Rx Kids with questions about their success.
Jim Ananich, president and CEO of the Greater Flint Health Coalition and former Michigan state senator, said dignity is what sets Rx Kids apart.
“A lot of shows tell people how to live their lives,” Ananich said. The health of the nation. “Rx Kids allows people to care for their family the way they need.”
For more information, visit www.rxkids.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
