New Jersey voters are notoriously difficult to reach, not only because of their general apathy toward politics and government, but because the state lacks a unified media market. The disparate local news originates in New York City or Philadelphia, leaving most residents to turn to NJ12 or pick up a newspaper in order to learn some of the smaller, more important issues affecting the state. When it comes to what the state legislature is doing in Trenton, most won’t hear about it until after the fact. It’s how a 23 cent per gallon increase in the gas tax gets passed and signed without much protest. Right now, the Democrats in charge of the legislature are negotiating with Governor Christie to avoid a government shutdown on July 1. And as part of these negotiations, Christie is pushing for a bill that targets the state’s largest health insurer.
Governor Christie has been waging a war on the opioid addiction epidemic since only February, mainly by spending at least $2.6 million of the state’s money on advertisements prominently featuring him. This campaign may have contributed to his appointment as the leader of President Trump’s commission on the opioid crisis, but it has done nothing to help his sagging approval numbers in the state (recently pegged at a startlingly low 15%). Nevertheless, Christie has continued pushing for his own solution to the crisis, recently targeting Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield. Starting with a speech a few months ago, Christie has lashed out at the not-for-profit insurer:
"It is obscene that an insurance company in this state that calls themselves a non-profit sits on nearly $3 billion of your money, in surplus, and doesn't want to give any of it to help take care of members of our families who are drug addicted and need treatment," said Christie.
Horizon has volunteered to put some money towards Christie's pet project, just not as much as the governor wants. Since he can’t strike back at this egregious act of defiance by closing a bridge, he’s turned to legislation. Christie wants to give the state the authority to raid the money in Horizon’s reserves. Sound familiar?
But a governor with only 15% approval doesn’t have a lot of leverage. So he’s dragged it into budget negotiations that are seeking to avoid a shutdown:
Christie, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-Gloucester), and [State Assembly Speaker] Prieto (D-Hudson) are negotiating a complicated four-way deal before the end of the month: the state budget, a partial fix to the state's public employee pension shortfall using state lottery proceeds, a modified school funding formula, and the Horizon bill.
Christie put what he has called a Horizon "transparency" measure on the table during negotiations to force the not-for-profit health insurance provider to give up some of its surplus to fund drug treatment programs -- an issue he has made the cornerstone of his final year in office.
Christie's bill gives the state Department of Banking and Insurance next year the authority to "examine the size of Horizon's surplus" and deposit any amount deemed excessive into the Health and Wellness Fund. The bill would also require Horizon post online information about the compensation of its top officers.
While the notion of transparency may not sound terrible, what isn’t mentioned is what would happen to the 3.8 million New Jerseyans that depend on Horizon for insurance, of which I am one.
You see, I currently get my health insurance through Obamacare’s federal exchanges. (Christie forfeited the money to set up a state exchange years ago.) While the cost has gone up each year I’ve been on Horizon’s plan, it has not been such a steep increase that I can no longer afford it. But next year may be a different story. With Trump threatening subsidies and Republicans in Congress trying to pass Trumpcare, health insurers haven’t faced so much uncertainty since Healthcare.gov went live. This is already causing projected 2018 premiums to rise, and in some cases has led to insurers abandoning the marketplace all together. Because of what is happening in Washington, now would be the absolute worst time for a state to start messing with health insurance. So, of course, it’s happening in New Jersey.
Horizon is already warning state legislators that Christie’s bill would cause costs to rise:
Like all insurance companies operating in this State, Horizon exists in a very competitive marketplace. When faced with cost increases visited by ill-advised public policies, the company must decide whether to increase costs to its members, cut expenditures through layoffs, outsourcing, or other labor related maneuvers, or adopt some combination of both. Given that S-4 singles out Horizon for disfavored treatment, for-profit out-of-state insurance companies will now have a significant competitive advantage over Horizon, the only health insurance company established in New Jersey and operating solely within the State’s borders. The only possible outcome of this transformation of the marketplace will be increased costs for health insurance statewide and increased instability in the health care economy.
We have no reason not to believe them. Unfortunately, Democrats in the State Senate are primed to go along with the governor, and the bill has already been voted out of committee with only one dissent. Sweeney apparently has the votes for it to pass the Senate, but it’s being declared dead-on-arrival in the State Assembly. I’ve heard that term all-too-often recently to think that that means it stands no chance of getting to Christie’s desk. While Speaker Prieto opposes the measure and doesn’t plan on bringing it to the floor, he’s lost most of his political capital in Trenton and will likely be out as Speaker next year. And its possible the measure will be part of some grand package to avoid a shutdown.
Maybe Horizon’s monetary reserves need to be looked at, but it should be done at a time when the health insurance market is more stable, and by a governor that isn’t historically disliked. We can’t let them drive up costs in this state AGAIN while most attention spans are preoccupied by Trump and Trumpcare. If you live in New Jersey, you can find and contact your state legislator by clicking here.