So NJ's government is shut down? (Medical Isurance-related)

[Valli6]

I can't tell so far.

It's because the budget hasn't been finished on time. Has something to do with Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ. Maybe it will end up being more of a shutdown of this medical insurance company?

July 1, 2017

...The real fight erupted over Christie's demand that the state dictate how much money not-for-profit Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is allowed to keep in a reserve fund before it must turn it over to a fund for public health causes.

Sweeney wanted to give Christie what he wanted to protect the budget. Prieto called Christie's tactics extortion and defended Horizon's right to operate as-is...

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf..._get_here.html

June 30, 2017

TRENTON -- The state Senate on Thursday voted to allow the next governor to control the surplus level for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, under a deal struck with Gov. Chris Christie, who wants to punish the state's largest health insurance company for refusing to contribute to a public health fund...

...Democrats who control the 40-member Senate banded together to support a bill that doesn't give the Republican governor what he wants -- a $300 million diversion from Horizon's reserve fund for drug treatment programs -- but does ratchet up the scrutiny on the not-for-profit insurance carrier

IT'S ABOUT POLITICS IN A STATE WHERE GOVERNORS ARE KING

New Jersey gives its governor more power and freedom than any other state. One of Christie's rights is his freedom to line-item-veto anything in the budget, which is a powerful tool to push for things he wants.

For years, he's written-out hundreds of millions of dollars in Democratic wish lists. This year -- Christie's last as governor -- was going to be different, ending in a compromise...

...HOW ONE GUY CAN GUM UP THE WORKS

The Assembly speaker has power, too. Prieto controls which bills the 80-member Assembly will act on. The bill giving the state more control over Horizon passed the Senate Thursday. The Assembly version was introduced the same day, and Prieto has said he has no intention of allowing a vote on it. With neither side budging, midnight passed without a budget.

OTHER FORCES BEHIND THE FIGHT

Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) hinted that south Jersey Democratic party boss and insurance company partner George Norcross may have had a hand in driving the Horizon issue. Norcross is both a Sweeney confidante and a Christie ally. Norcross holds a small ownership in Horizon competitor AmeriHealth, which is losing money.

"Chris Christie and George Norcross are the only ones who could turn Horizon into a paragon of virtue," Weinberg quipped.

Sweeney denied that Norcross has asked him to push the Horizon bill, and is "too smart to invest the political capital" in an issue neither candidate for governor this year gives a hoot about.

HOW THE ISSUES THEY'RE DEBATING ACTUALLY AFFECT YOU

Horizon said losing millions of dollars in reserves will hamper its ability to meet policyholder claims in the event of a catastrophic event. In the long term, the company predicts this forced charitable mission will drive up premiums.

Sweeney and Prieto say if Christie takes an axe to the budget, the biggest losers are the students who would benefit from the expansion of preschool, more equitable funding for poorly-funded and fast-growing school districts and grants to help low-income students afford college.

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf...rt_river_index

Christie is really into this opiod "epidemic" and wants more money for drug-related crap.

I have (hospital-employee-based) medical insurance under horizon and they don't want to cover anything anymore. Everything is a fight, and I'm afraid to see a doctor because horizon is just not up front about anything. Really having a difficult time finding an orthopedist/bone type doctor they will accept.

The hospitals that didn't close down in this state over the last decade, have been taken over by bigger hospitals like (pro-obamacare) Robert Wood Johnson - which has now even merged with another big hospital St. Barnabus! What are they planning to pull? They're creating mega-hospitals! Are they paving the way for the single-payer crap? We now have "big-hospitals" to go along with "big-pharma" and "big-banks", etc.

and what makes horizon "not for profit" anyway? They sure are miserly about covering bills.