The Proposal

Overview

  • We want ALL New Jersey residents to be covered by traditional Medicare (parts A, B and D)!
  • Make “Medicare For All” a reality
  • Don’t create a new health care plan
  • Don’t rewrite Medicare
  • Just take what we have, national Medicare, and make it THE one and only health care plan for New Jersey

The Present Situation

  • New Jersey health care is financed through the same array of confusing and conflicting health care plans that hobble health care nationally
  • 700,000 NJ residents do not have health insurance
  • Provider choices are limited to the networks each carrier creates
  • All affordable plans have very high deductibles, requiring large out-of-pocket expenses
  • Administrative costs are high because of the large number of carriers and plans they offer
  • Prices hospitals charge for medical procedures are not standardized, costing NJ state and local governments, and NJ consumers, billions of dollars

Recent efforts to achieve Medicare for All in NJ

  • NJUHC has evaluated several approaches to implementing universal health care in New Jersey
  • New Jersey has an exceptional amount of cross border employment and health care provision with neighboring states, which other states have found difficult to resolve
  • Governing and managing a new state single payer plan is complicated by changes in the State’s political environment and leadership
  • State legislation may pass, but implementation of a totally new health plan requires a massive expansion of State government

Why Medicare for All would be better for NJ

  • Medicare stands out as a rational, cost effective program providing health care coverage for over 50 years to more than 55 million 65+ and those with disabilities
  • Medicare reduces administrative costs for providers and consumers, making health care more affordable
  • Medicare standardizes hospital prices for medical procedures
  • Medicare provides patients with the maximum choice of doctors and hospitals
  • Medicare allows doctors to spend more time on patient care and less on negotiating with insurance companies
  • Medicare can cover every NJ resident
  • Medicare has the ability to manage and operate Medicare in NJ without the need for any new State agencies or bureaucracy
  • A precedent for designating traditional Medicare as the sole provider in a defined geographic area already exists in Libby, MT
  • Medicare for All in NJ would be a model for other states, allowing a gradual state-by-state expansion of Medicare until every U.S. resident is covered

Highlights of legislation that could move us toward Medicare for All in NJ

(A4538 and S3638)

  • Requests that the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) enroll every NJ resident in Medicare, cradle to grave, as part of a new demonstration program
  • States clearly that NJ wants national traditional Medicare to become THE one and only health care plan for New Jersey for all necessary medical services
  • Does not allow any other health care plan sold in New Jersey to offer coverage included in Medicare
  • Directs CMS to act under the waiver provisions of the Affordable Care Act, or under the experimentation provisions built into Medicare legislation, without need for an act of Congress
  • Establishes a Medicare administrative district exclusively for NJ

Next Steps

  • Identify legislative sponsors and state organizations to support and sponsor the new legislation
  • Develop support from Business and Medical interests
  • Share our legislative model with other states thru the One-Payer States network
  • Build grassroots support for NJ Medicare for All via town hall meetings and educational events around the State