Every New Jerseyan deserves access to affordable health insurance and care. Medicaid coverage ensures that people can see a doctor for routine checkups and essential care, improving overall health and reducing medical debt for enrollees. However, recent federal proposals to slash Medicaid funding for states threaten gains in coverage for adults and children across New Jersey. Federal Medicaid dollars support New Jersey FamilyCare, which provides health insurance for low- and moderate-income households — making it a critical lifeline for families statewide.
Under the recently passed House budget resolution, one harmful proposal would impose work requirements for Medicaid. If Congress passes these onerous work requirements, about 765,000 New Jersey adults could lose health insurance — 44 percent of all adult Medicaid enrollees. Other estimates, including from the New Jersey Department of Human Services, which administers Medicaid in New Jersey, conclude similarly, showing that hundreds of thousands of people risk losing health insurance with work requirements under these rules.
Overall, these counterproductive requirements would add burdensome and unnecessary red tape to insurance applications while threatening basic health insurance for nearly half of all enrollees. Most adult Medicaid enrollees already work, while those who are not are most often caring for family members, dealing with illness or disabilities, or pursuing education. Evidence from states with work requirements for health insurance demonstrate that these policies fail to increase employment, while access to affordable health insurance actually improves a person’s ability to get and keep a job.
Cuts that remove people from Medicaid shift costs onto working- and middle-class families who rely on it. These families already face rising housing, food, and health care expenses. If a New Jersey family in the lowest 20 percent of earners lost coverage, they would lose, on average, $11,909 annually.
New Jersey must protect NJ FamilyCare by rejecting Medicaid cuts that would undermine affordability, strain the state’s budget, and put hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans at risk of losing lifesaving health insurance.
