Hudson County legislators – with the exception of state Sen. Brian Stack – voted against changes that would strip public employees of some of their bargaining rights, but the bill passed in what is seen as a huge victory for Republican Gov. Christopher Christie.
Christie said the changes were necessary to bring long –term fiscal stability to the state, but local Democrats said the law stripped workers of some rights to collective bargaining.
“I wanted to break the bill into two parts.” – Jason O’Donnell
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Despite overwhelming opposition from the Hudson County legislative delegation, the bill passed the state Assembly 46 to 32. The bill had passed in the state Senate earlier with Stack joining State President Steve Sweeney and other Democrats from Central and Southern New Jersey in passing the bill. Christie is expected to sign the bill into law.
“I wanted to break the bill into two parts, one on the pension – which I agree needed reform and this is real reform – and one of the health care portion which is not reform,” O’Donnell said.
The legislation will require state employees to pay up to 35 percent of their healthcare premiums, which is well above the national average of 22 percent for public employees – and above the national average for private sector public employees.
“The fact of the matter is this is a farce on taxpayers and residents of the State of New Jersey that does nothing to reform health care or control costs,” he said. “We should have done real reform.”
“The bad news is that all public employees will begin paying a higher percentage of their salaries for health coverage and the really bad news is that lower-paid employees will pay a higher percentage of their salaries,” said Assemblywoman Joan Quigley, who represents a portion of Jersey City and all of Secaucus, North Bergen, and Guttenberg. “Retirees will get a check every month but no matter how high the cost of living goes, their checks will not increase for 30 years.”
Quigley said the bills do nothing to reduce the cost of health insurance for public employees.
“It merely split the costs differently but did nothing to try to keep those costs from rising,” she said. “The state is now paying $19,000 per year for an employee in a family plan. That seems to be much higher than what private companies are paying and the projections for increases range as high as $45,000 per employee in years to come if nothing is done to rein them in.”
O’Donnell said the 130-page document was dropped on legislators 10 days prior to the vote, leaving almost no time for debate or even thorough analysis.
“This is one of the top three issues facing the state and you would think we should have more than 10 days to evaluate and discuss it,” he said.
O’Donnell said there is something wrong with the mathematics that are being used in regards to actual savings, which will pose serious problems for the upcoming budget.
“Based on these changes, the governor says we will save $323 million in this year’s budget – and this is figured into the budget we’re going to have to vote on,” O’Donnell said. “But the state Department of Treasury is telling us this will save only $10 million. Somehow, the legislature is going to have to make up the difference.”
Back to the state Senate for a vote
The bill went back to the state Senate to be voted on again because of differences between the Senate and Assembly bills.
“The version of the bill that went through the Senate contained provisions that public employees at all levels would not be covered for health care rendered out of state except in emergencies, for continuing care by a prior provider, or – and this was the big issue – except if the patient’s primary care doctor certified under penalty of fines, etc., that no such care was available in New Jersey within 25 miles of the patient’s home,” Quigley said. “That would mean, for instance, that a Hudson County resident diagnosed with a rare form of cancer would not be able to go to a New York City hospital unless his/her doctor would sign a certification that cancer care was not available close to his/her home in New Jersey.”
The budget committee heard hours of testimony from patients and others on this issue, and legislators even had personal experience in seeking out-of-state care.
“Every doctor I talked with – with not a single exception – said no doctor they knew would ever sign a certification saying care could not be rendered nearby because every doctor theoretically can care for every condition; but in reality their qualifications and experience vary greatly and some specialized care is simply not available in community hospitals,” said Quigley.
As a result, the Assembly amended the bills to remove that provision altogether.
“Now there will continue to be no geographical limit on where one can get care, but the amount of co-pay will vary,” Quigley said. “There will be nine plans offering different types of coverage at different prices. We have no details on any of them yet but they have to be made known by October.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.