Rx Kids in Flint, Michigan, offers cash payments to pregnant people to help offset the economic costs of maternal care.
Photo by Tassil, courtesy iStockphoto
Michigan resident Celeste Lord-Timlin was midway through a demanding graduate program when she learned she was pregnant.
“I was really sick, not just morning sickness, but nausea all the time,” Lord-Timlin, MBA, MSLOD, told The Nation's Health. “I realized I couldn't be a full-time student anymore.”
But going part time came with a steep cost. Lord-Timlin lost her federal student aid and faced the possibility of dropping out or taking on a high-interest loan to pay for school. Then, about 20 weeks into her pregnancy, she applied online for Rx Kids, a no-strings-attached cash program in Flint, Michigan. She soon received a $1,500 cash transfer.
“That first $1,500 is what really saved me in terms of keeping on track in my graduate program,” said Lord-Timlin, who gave birth to daughter Siobhan in June 2024 and completed her MBA program in December.
Launched in a city with one of the nation's highest child poverty rates and racial disparities in maternal and infant health, Rx Kids offers itself as a “prescription for health, hope and opportunity.” Under the program, all pregnant people in Flint are eligible for a one-time $1,500 payment during mid-pregnancy, followed by $500 a month for 12 months after birth. No income limits and no restrictions on how the money is spent apply.
Lord-Timlin used her monthly payments to help cover child care, which runs about $1,300 a month in Flint, as well as basic infant needs such as diapers.
“Rx Kids really saved me in our hour of need,” Lord-Timlin said. “It gave us the buffer to focus on being new parents and still build toward stability.”
Her experiences reflect the challenges Mona Hanna, MD, MPH, aimed to address when she helped launch Rx Kids in Flint in 2024.
“For so long as a pediatrician, I've shrugged my shoulders and said, ‘I can't treat poverty,’” Hanna, associate dean of public health at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, told The Nation's Health. “But if you keep asking why kids are struggling, why families are struggling, you get back to the same root cause — socioeconomic conditions.”
Backed by a mix of public, philanthropic and local funding, the first-of-its-kind cash assistance program is administered by the nonprofit GiveDirectly and led by Michigan State University's Hurley Children's Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, in collaboration with Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan.
The program has reached near-universal participation in Flint and expanded to over two dozen other Michigan communities. The expansion comes as new research links Rx Kids with improvements in birth outcomes and family stability in Flint, where nearly 60% of children live in poverty — triple the national average.
A study released in fall by Michigan State University and the University of Michigan linked the program to an 18% drop in preterm births and 27% reduction in low-birthweight babies compared with the previous year. The study also reported a 29% decline in neonatal intensive care unit admissions, translating into more than $6 million in health care 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 APHA's American Journal of Public Health, found benefits beyond birth outcomes. Participating mothers experienced fewer evictions, improved food and diaper security, and a 14% drop in positive screenings for postpartum depression. Many women also reported feeling respected, valued and hopeful.
“What we decided to do was stop saying we're OK with babies being born into poverty,” Hanna said. “This is as upstream as you get. This is fundamental public health. This is supporting families during the poorest window of life, when expenses rise.”
Other states are contacting Rx Kids with questions about its success.
Jim Ananich, president and CEO of the Greater Flint Health Coalition and a former Michigan state senator, said dignity is what sets Rx Kids apart.
“A lot of programs tell people how to live their lives,” Ananich told The Nation's Health. “Rx Kids empowers people to take care of their family the way they need to.”
For more information, visit www.rxkids.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
