TRENTON, N.J. – Assemblyman Hal Wirths questioned why the $600 million going to the state in the Horizon bill (A5119) is not being used to lower costs for customers.
“If Horizon is a nonprofit and has that much money leftover in the first place, premiums and rates should be lower,” said Wirths (R-Sussex), the Republican Budget officer. “Why in the world would this money not be used to make health care more affordable?”
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, state’s largest health insurer, covers some 3.6 million New Jerseyans.
“More than three-and-a-half million people would benefit, including Medicare and Medicaid recipients, businesses and public employees. They need to be the priority, not state government,” continued Wirths. “Establishment Democrats have become so brazen with their political power that progressives and Republicans are actually agreeing. People come before politics, or at least that used to be the goal.”