TRENTON — Undoing a budget cut enacted last year, an Assembly committee today approved a bill that would spend $6.4 million in state money to allow slightly higher-income parents to enroll in the popular NJ FamilyCare health insurance program for the working poor. The Assembly Human Committee approved the measure 5 to 2 with one abstention, allowing parents earning...
Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle (D-Bergen), who sponsored the bill to restore NJ Family Care cuts, addresses the Assembly earlier this year. TRENTON — Undoing a budget cut enacted last year, an Assembly committee today approved a bill that would spend $6.4 million in state money to allow slightly higher-income parents to enroll in the popular NJ FamilyCare health insurance program for the working poor.
The Assembly Human Committee approved the measure 5 to 2 with one abstention, allowing parents earning twice the federal poverty level to seek enrollment in the HMO-style program again. The bill would admit parents into FamilyCare with household income of $37.060 for a family of three, instead of the $24,645 maximum income level Gov. Chris Christie's administration set in March 2010.
Spending the $6.4 million would entitle the state to $11.9 million in federal funds, according to the legislation, (A3938). An estimated 19,200 parents lost out on coverage because of the change last year, the bill said.
Mary Coogan of the Advocates for Children of New Jersey urged the committee to pass the bill because there is evidence from previous budget cuts that when parents were denied FamilyCare, their children - though still eligible - miss out on care. "We are going to see a significant reduction and back-step in enrolling children. They won't get the preventative care they need,'' Coogan said.
Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon (R-Monmouth) said he thought the sponsors had low-balled how much it would cost the state to restore the program's eligibility level for parents. "I think this is a lot more expensive than we think,'' O'Scanlon said before voting no.
Assembly Chairwoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D-Bergen), and the bill's sponsor, said passing the bill makes good economic sense. “NJ FamilyCare is for families who do not have available or affordable employer insurance, and cannot afford to pay the high cost of private health insurance. If they don’t get his coverage, they will go to the emergency room for even more expensive care, so this bill is fiscally sensible and responsible,” she said.
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