Post Reference 28- NJ Familycare

Dec-19-07 Governor Corzine Expands Access to NJ Familycare Program
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Governor Jon S. Corzine
December 19, 2007
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GOVERNOR CORZINE EXPANDS ACCESS TO
NJ FAMILYCARE PROGRAM

Children in Families Above Current Guidelines Can Enroll For Monthly Premium

WOODBRIDGE - Governor Jon S. Corzine today announced a new initiative that provides universal, affordable access to health insurance for New Jersey children. Through the existing FamilyCare program, children whose family income currently exceeds eligibility guidelines will now be able to enroll in the program for a monthly fee, in early 2008. It is estimated that as many as 15,000 uninsured children may qualify to enroll in this program.

"Ensuring that children have access to quality medical care is a top priority of my administration," said Governor Corzine. "We have enrolled more than 100,000 children in the NJ FamilyCare program since I took office and today we are expanding access to this critical and successful health insurance program with a new 'buy-in' program that will provide every family in New Jersey with an affordable health care option for their children. Healthier children will mean a healthier New Jersey."

Under the new "buy-in" provision of the NJ FamilyCare program, children in families whose annual family income exceeds current eligibility limits - $72, 275 annual income for a family of four (350 percent of the federal poverty guidelines) can enroll in the program. These children will receive the same services available to NJ FamilyCare recipients, such as coverage for doctor visits, prescription drugs, and hospitalization.

The program is budget neutral for the state and is not dependent upon the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funding. Families must pay the following monthly premiums: $137 for a family with one child; $274 for a family with two children, and $411 for a family with three or more children. Thanks to the state's purchasing power with insurers, the costs are significantly lower than private health insurance premiums.

There are few restrictions to the buy-in program: families with more than one child must enroll all children and families must demonstrate that their children did not have health care coverage for the previous six months. This is to prevent individuals who currently have insurance from dropping their coverage to enroll in the program.

"There are simply too many children in New Jersey without health care insurance," said Department of Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez. "Today, thanks to the leadership of Governor Corzine and the Legislature we have one more way to enroll them."

"When I wrote the law creating this new program, I believed then, as I do now, that affordable universal healthcare access for all children is a fundamental right, and an example of how as a state we can move toward a similar program for our 700,000 uninsured adults," said Senator Joseph F. Vitale (D-Woodbridge), the prime sponsor of the legislation.

"Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is delighted to play a part in covering additional uninsured children through the expansion of New Jersey FamilyCare, a program the company has participated in since its inception," said Karen Clark, President and Chief Operating Officer of Horizon NJ Health, a Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey company.

Beginning January 2008, Horizon Health Care of New Jersey will begin offering the buy-in program.

"I want to commend Horizon for its admirable display of citizenship and civic responsibility demonstrated by its willingness to be the provider for this new program," said Banking and Insurance Commissioner Steven M. Goldman. "This is an important additional step in reducing the ranks of New Jersey's uninsured children. We hope this is the first of many such steps moving toward the reduction of New Jersey's uninsured."

For more information on the NJ FamilyCare program, visit www.njfamilycare.org or call 1-800-701-0710.

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From the New Jersey Star Ledger, 12/21/07

Senator works to insure kids first
Posted by Tom Moran December 21, 2007 1:30AM

Just in time for Christmas, we have a winner of the coveted Legislator of the Year Award. It's a new honor, conceived just now. And the selection process was untainted by input from anyone other than this columnist.

The 2007 award goes to Sen. Joe Vitale, the owner of a small family business, and the man who is driving health care policy in the state.

Vitale clinched the win by finding a way to help middle-class families get health care for their children at about one-third the normal price - without costing taxpayers a dime.

These days, that is the trick. The state is caught in a never-ending budget nightmare, so we have to find clever ways to meet our needs on the cheap. And that is Vitale's game.

"He's very sophisticated in his thinking about these issues," says Joel Cantor, head of the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy. "These things are enormously complex, and he's a master."

Understand that it's beyond unusual for academics to talk about legislators like that. Normally, the policy wonks wonder how these part-time politicians can be so thick-headed.

For Vitale, a Democrat from Woodbridge, the ultimate goal is universal coverage in New Jersey. His plan shares a lot with one in Massachusetts signed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney in the days when he was acting the part of a liberal.

The basic idea is to require that everyone buy health insurance, and to provide subsidies to those who can't afford it on their own.

New Jersey can't make that leap now because the subsidies would be too expensive. So Vitale is tacking toward his goal, one move at a time.

This week, he joined the governor at a mall in Woodbridge to announce the middle-class discounts. The target is families who earn too much to qualify for existing government programs, but not enough to buy coverage on their own.

This group is getting killed on the open market, where family plans cost roughly $12,000. So Vitale basically used the state's bargaining power on their behalf, winning a group discount just as a large employer might.

The beauty of this is that the state is not on the hook for any costs. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield will arrange the care, and the middle-class families will pay the premiums. Vitale expects 20,000 children to get coverage, one more step toward his goal.

"This makes great sense," says Sen. Diane Allen, a Burlington County Republican who sits on the health committee. "Joe has the respect of all the Republicans on the committee. We don't always agree. But we know that we've been heard."

Pretty soon, it'll get tougher. Because Vitale wants to press the case for universal coverage in 2008. He wants his committee to consider a mandate requiring parents to get coverage for their children. And he wants to offer new coverage to adults earning up to twice the poverty level.

The cost would be small, he says, because the state's bill for covering the uninsured in hospitals, now more than $700 million a year, will drop.

"That money is just wasted," Vitale says.

The man is on a mission. He views health care as a basic right, like education, a view that crystallized for him nearly 20 years ago when he was traveling in the Dominican Republic with a church group. They saw a woman in a small town run from her home with a child burned by boiling water. She was putting Vaseline on the burns.

"That's exactly the wrong thing to do," Vitale says. "They had no doctors, no nurses. They had children with all kinds of illnesses. And access to care was at best an hour away."

His church group wound up establishing a small hospital in the town, staffed mostly by volunteers, and supplied mostly by charity. The church group, with the help of the locals, found a practical solution.

For Vitale, it's become a habit. So this prestigious award goes to him.

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