New Jersey Governor Murphy says there will be an average 9.3 percent reduction in health insurance rates next year for consumers who purchase coverage from the state’s individual marketplace.
Murphy says the reduction results from laws he signed in May. They implement a reinsurance program next year and make New Jersey the first state to continue the Affordable Care Act’s mandate to buy health insurance or pay a penalty after that requirement was repealed at the federal level last year.
Senate Heath Committee chairman Joe Vitale says the state’s mandate requiring insurance coverage helps to reduce overall costs.
“If it is that everyone isn’t in the pool, it just makes it unaffordable for everyone else. And it’s also not fair for those who can afford to be in insurance to pass on it so that the rest of us pick up the tab and hospitals wind up with significant charity care obligations.”
Murphy says the state’s actions will benefit consumers and insurers.
“The insurance companies want a stable market and some amount of visibility or otherwise they can’t plan and the more volatility that’s put into the system the less likely that they’re going to continue to participate. What we’ve done is put stability back into this which give them confidence to able to participate at rates that are acceptable.”
The rates in the state’s individual marketplace went up 22.3 percent this year. Without the new changes, Murphy says consumers would have seen a 12.6 percent increase in 2019.