Medical debt in governor's cross-hairs

Plan includes making bills more transparent

By: Scott Fallon
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... Almost 1 million New Jerseyans have unpaid medical bills that have already gone to debt collectors in a state with some of the highest health care costs in the nation.
..... Now Governor Phil Murphy wants to make a dent in that debt.
..... In his State of the State speech on Tuesday, [01/09/2024] Murphy said he would push the Legislature to pass a package of bills to "help families avoid being caught in a medical debt trap and require every medical bill to be clear and transparent."
..... An administration aide said Murphy would parter with the national nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, which works to raise money and negotiate debts down. Murphy would use $10 million in American recuse Plan funds that were already allocated in the current state budget. Other measures would add more transparency to medical bills and delay providers sending unpaid bills to collection agencies.
..... "Pulling people out from crushing medical debt is vital, but so is protecting them from falling down that hole in the first place," Murphy told the crowd gathered at the Statehouse on Tuesday [01/09/2024] afternoon.
..... The first bill would be named for Louisa Carman, a 25-year-old administration staffer who worked on the legislative package and died in a car crash on New Year's Day. [01/01/2024]
..... In his speech, Murphy singled out Casey McIntyre, a Tenafly native who died in November [2023] from ovarian cancer. Before her death, she and her husband, Andrew Gregory, asked follower on social media to donate to RIP Medical Debt to help wipe out other people's medical debt. To date, more than $1 million has been raised in her name.

High costs, rising debt

..... About 11% of New Jerseyans have medical debt that has gone to a collection bureau despite only 6.8% of residents being uninsured in 2022.
..... Those rates increase among minorities. About 11% of minorities were uninsured and 16% had medical debt in collections, according to the nonprofit Urban Institute.
..... Part of the reason is that New Jersey has some of the highest health care costs in the nation, with the average resident paying more than 411,000 a year, ranking it 11th. It also has some of the highest hospital costs, with admitted patients racking up an average of $3,157 in expenses each day.
..... A 2022 report by the University of Arizona and University of Utah showed that New jersey has one of the nation's worst medical debt protection policies, ranking it 45th among states.

HOME