New Jersey is expanding health care coverage to all children regardless of immigration status as part of the state’s “Cover All Kids” initiative. The latest phase of this program, which was first rolled out two years ago, will ensure thousands more kids whose families meet income eligibility requirements can obtain the Medicaid coverage they need.
“By helping more children get NJ FamilyCare coverage regardless of their immigration status, we are working to make New Jersey a fairer, more affordable place for all to live,” Gov. Phil Murphy said. Murphy during a press conference this week said it was “not just the right thing to do morally, but it is the right thing to do for the future health of our state,” New Jersey Monitor reported.
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“Phase 1 of the Cover All Kids campaign helped remove barriers and support connections to coverage by eliminating the 90-day waiting period for children to get coverage after enrolling in the New Jersey Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and eliminating premiums families would have paid for children enrolled in CHIP,” Murphy’s office said. Phase 2, currently in motion, expands eligibility to undocumented people under 19 and “who otherwise meet the same requirements as all other children in the Medicaid program.”
Murphy’s office said more than 47,000 children in the state have been protected since Cover All Kids’ inception in 2021. Under the expansion, another 16,000 kids will be covered. “About 3.5% of children were uninsured in New Jersey in 2021, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation,” New Jersey Monitor said. That represents one of the lower uninsured rates in the nation for people 18 and under, that data showed.
Of course, the goal should always be zero, and efforts from Murphy and other Democratic governors across the nation represent significant advances toward that. Compare that to the (in)actions of Republican governors, who have opposed opting into Medicaid expansion as a matter of political calculus and just plain old sadism. Because why else would you deny kids in your own state access to a doctor?
“The expansion of NJ FamilyCare to all income-eligible children, regardless of immigration status, is a historic step toward a stronger and healthier New Jersey,” said New Jersey Policy Perspective’s Brittany Holom-Trundy. “Thousands of families in our state—our neighbors, friends, and colleagues—will now have access to high-quality, affordable health coverage for their children.”
“Policies like this are how we put opportunity within reach for every family, and how we set up kids for success now and later in life,” Holom-Trundy continued. “We thank Governor Murphy, members of the Legislature, and all of the advocates who made this possible.”
Murphy as governor has signed into place a pretty good number of pro-immigrant policies, and proved wrong the conventional wisdom that doing so would hurt him electorally after winning historic reelection in 2021. These policy wins have been the result of years-long organizing efforts by immigrant families and their advocates, who at times have been forced turn up the heat on Murphy. When the state shockingly said it would be reallocating an emergency fund that it had established for workers excluded from federal pandemic relief (including many essential workers without legal status), families and advocates forced Murphy to backtrack.
Undocumented people in New Jersey pay nearly $600 million in state and local taxes annually. The state has set aside roughly $11 million to pay for the expansion.
“The fight for the 'Cover All Kids' campaign is a testament to the growing organizing power of immigrant families,” said New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice’s Amy Torres. “We must empower those same voices to spread the word so that every family with an eligible child has the support and guidance they need to apply. We look forward to continuing to work with our State and coalition partners to ensure this program receives the fair funding and resources it deserves, both in this inaugural year and in the years to come.”
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