Clinton Signs 8-Hr Rule For New Mothers

Living a campaigning politician's fondest dream, President Bill Clinton championed motherhood on Thursday by signing a law that guarantees women a 48-hour hospital stay after childbirth.

Parents may rush to the hospital but they shouldn't be rushed out of it unless it's the right thing to do for the parent and the child, Clinton said.

The Newborns' and Mothers' Protection Act was tied to a $64.4 billion government money bill that also improves health benefits for mental patients and children with spina bifida born to Vietnam veterans.

It grew out of public complaints about health care plans that forced new mothers to leave the hospital as soon as 10 hours after a normal delivery.

 

The new law requires health insurers to let women stay in the hospital for 48 hours after a normal delivery and 96 hours after a Caesarean.

The so-called 48-hour rule, which could reinforce the gender gap advantage that Clinton enjoys over Republican challenger Bob Dole, was approved by a Republican-controlled Congress that was increasingly putting its own interests above those of the party's trouble-plagued presidential candidate.

The gender gap referred to election polls that showed women voters prefer Clinton to Dole by as much as 29 percentage points.

The health care reforms were attached to a bill providing money for federal housing programmes, veterans' health care, environmental protection and space research.

The benefit was provided after studies showed a link between children born with spina bifida, a crippling neurological birth defect, and exposure to Agent Orange while the father served in Vietnam.