PREVIEW – Senate Health Committee To Consider Expanded Familycare, Rational Health Care Resources Bills On Thursday

TRENTON – A bill sponsored by Senator Joseph F. Vitale which would expand eligibility and outreach of New Jersey FamilyCare in order to set the stage for affordable health care for all New Jersey residents was unanimously approved by the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee today.

“New Jersey is in the midst of a health care crisis, and the skyrocketing cost of care is driving more residents to neglect their health in order to meet other basic human needs,” said Senator Vitale, D-Middlesex, and Chair of the Senate Health Committee. “No one should have to choose between food, shelter and health care, particularly when nearly six hundred people die every year because they’re uninsured. We make a substantial investment in health care for the uninsured already, and we need to seek a better, more efficient and more effective model to provide preemptive care to those in need.”

TRENTON – Senator Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, the Chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee and author of a plan to make health care affordable for all New Jersey residents, issued the following statement today after the Senate unanimously approved the first phase of his plan:

“Tonight in New Jersey, a quarter million kids will go to sleep without the protection offered by even basic health insurance. These are kids who have to wait until they’re very seriously ill or hurt before they can go to the hospital to have access to care. As a moral society, we cannot turn our backs on the plight of these kids, who are falling through the gaps in New Jersey’s health care safety net.

PERTH AMBOY – A bill sponsored by Senator Joseph F. Vitale which expands the FamilyCare safety net for uninsured New Jerseyans and takes the first step to ensure affordable health care coverage for all State residents was signed into law by the Governor today at a ceremony at Raritan Bay Medical Center.

“Today’s bill signing marks a commitment from the State of New Jersey – that we will not turn our backs on the 1 million working poor State residents who are one major health crisis away from bankruptcy,” said Senator Vitale, D-Middlesex, and Chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee. “With this new law, we are recognizing that the Garden State must spend its health care dollars smarter, and that the old system of reimbursing hospitals for providing emergency room care as a way to fund our obligation to the uninsured is dysfunctional and unsustainable. Through this law, we are saying that the dream of affordable, quality health care for all New Jerseyans is within reach, and that our State can be a national leader in providing access to appropriate care for the uninsured.”

TRENTON – Senator Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, the author of S-1557 – legislation which would expand FamilyCare for more low-income parents, ensure affordable health care for all New Jersey children, and make various reforms to the individual and small business health insurance markets – issued the following statement after the bill was unanimously approved by the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee today:

“I applaud Governor Corzine and my legislative colleagues for having the foresight to include a much-needed health care system overhaul in plans for the FY 2009 Budget. While I recognize that we’ve had to make some difficult choices about the priorities of the State in crafting this year’s spending plan, I’m thankful that New Jersey’s leaders have shown the courage to try to fix a health care system which is broken and desperately in need of repair.

TRENTON – Senator Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, the author of a health care reform plan to make health coverage affordable for all New Jersey residents issued the following statement regarding the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee’s unanimous approval of the first phase of his plan, which would expand eligibility and outreach for NJ FamilyCare and enact market-level reforms, with an eye towards affordability for policy holders, on the individual and small group health insurance markets:

“Today’s Budget Committee approval was a strong statement on the feasibility of transformational health care reform in the State of New Jersey. At a time when the Budget Committee is grappling with a substantial fiscal shortfall in State finances, the fact that Committee members would lend their support to this measure speaks volumes on the priorities we hold dear in the Garden State.

TRENTON – At a hearing on Thursday, May 15 in the Statehouse Annex, the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee will consider legislation sponsored by Committee Chair, Senator Joseph F. Vitale, to expand NJ FamilyCare in an effort to set the stage for accessible, affordable health care coverage for all New Jerseyans.

“This is an important first step in establishing a better model for New Jersey to meet its obligation to the uninsured,” said Senator Vitale, D-Middlesex. “Under the current charity care funding model, we aren’t making the most of our State’s limited health care dollars. We’re encouraging bad health care practices, by sending the message that uninsured New Jerseyans need to wait until their illness or injury is so severe that they have to go to the emergency room for care. This is a broken and dysfunctional system, and it’s time for a health care plan that works.”