The Senate and Assembly budget committees voted last night to advance A5324/S4533, which establishes the new Employer Health Care Contribution Assessment. This new revenue raiser, intended to support Medicaid in the face of significant federal cuts, charges corporations with more than 50 employees enrolled in Medicaid a per-employee fee, which also applies to employees’ dependents who are enrolled in Medicaid. The fee is projected to generate $145 million in revenue in Fiscal Year 2027. More than 300,000 New Jerseyans are already at risk of losing Medicaid coverage under federal cuts.
For more on NJPP’s concerns about this approach, see our blog on what this assessment means for low-income workers and their families.
In response, NJPP issues the following statement:
Jennifer Spiegel, Policy Analyst, NJPP:
“New Jersey must find new revenue to protect NJ FamilyCare, but this is the wrong way to raise it. A per-employee Medicaid assessment risks discouraging Medicaid enrollment and pushing employers away from hiring lower-wage workers without addressing why health care is unaffordable in the first place.
“And by including dependents in the assessment, this proposal also undermines New Jersey’s progress in expanding health care access to children through the Cover All Kids initiative. For many working families, Medicaid is the only affordable way to insure their children. No parent should have to weigh their child’s health coverage against their own job security.
“Lawmakers should pursue broader, more equitable revenue solutions that ask profitable corporations to contribute their fair share without putting low-wage workers at risk of losing coverage.”
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