Public Policy Forum

NEW JERSEY JUSTICES ASKED TO HEAR LANDMARK VOTER REGISTRATION CASE

Posted on by Mary Pat Gallagher

UPDATE: Since this article was written, the New Jersey Supreme Court has denied an appeal, leaving the issue for the Legislature to address.

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Permitting Election Day Registration for Voters

In a test case with nation-wide implications, the New Jersey Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether it is constitutional to require voters to register prior to Election Day now that electronic voter databases have made it much easier and faster to determine eligibility.

The plaintiffs in Rutgers Student Assembly v. Middlesex County Board of Elections seek to convince the Court to strike down the New Jersey law requiring that voters to  register at least 21 days before an election.

Continue reading NEW JERSEY JUSTICES ASKED TO HEAR LANDMARK VOTER REGISTRATION CASE

COURT ORDER DO-OVER ON PINELANDS PIPELINE APPROVAL

Posted on by Mary Pat Gallagher

A lot of attention has been focused on the Dakota Access Pipeline, which would carry crude oil across four western states, damaging the environment and disturbing Native American historical and cultural sites.

Similar battles over proposed pipelines are taking place right here in New Jersey and recent developments will at least delay two of those projects and hopefully allow for more public input on their impact.

Continue reading COURT ORDER DO-OVER ON PINELANDS PIPELINE APPROVAL

LEGISLATION TARGETS $1 BILLION SURPRISE MEDICAL BILL PROBLEM

Posted on by Mary Pat Gallagher

Surprise medical bills for out-of-network health care cost New Jersey residents nearly $1 billion per year, according to a report released last June by New Jersey Policy Perspective.

An estimated 168,000 people in the state receive out-of-network (OON) bills totaling $420 million per year but the actual cost is much higher because OON charges drive up the cost of the health insurance premiums paid by roughly 5 million New Jerseyans, for an estimated total cost of $956 million.

Continue reading LEGISLATION TARGETS $1 BILLION SURPRISE MEDICAL BILL PROBLEM

How will sale of Saint Michael’s Hospital transform healthcare in Newark?

Posted on by Myles Zhang

Written by Andrew Kitchenman

The answer lies with the Christie administration and which of several competing options it decides to pursue

Governor Chris Christie’s administration has put off for nearly three years deciding what it should do about the future of healthcare in Newark. But the scheduled sale of the bankrupt Saint Michael’s Medical Center, one of five Newark hospitals, should force a decision.

The outcome of the sale will likely help shape the quality of healthcare that Newark residents receive, according to industry attorneys and analysts. It could also affect the financial stability of all of the city’s hospitals.

State involvement in hospital bankruptcies normally is limited to issues related to operating licenses. But not in this case, for three reasons:

First, the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority, which is chaired by Acting Commissioner of Health Cathleen Bennett, issued tax-exempt bonds for Saint Michael’s that currently total roughly $230 million.

Second, the state also owns another troubled Newark facility — University Hospital, which is facing millions of dollars in annual operating losses for the foreseeable future.

Third, if the state allows the sale of Saint Michael’s it should get a short-term financial shot in the arm. But if were to decide to take over the facility, it could realize a greater payback over a longer period.

Continue reading How will sale of Saint Michael’s Hospital transform healthcare in Newark?

Voting Rights Groups Call for Election Day Registration

Posted on by Myles Zhang

Plaintiffs

Rutgers Constitutional Rights Clinic, ACLU-NJ, and New Jersey Appleseed File Appellate Brief Arguing State Cannot Justify 21-Day Registration Blackout Contact: Deborah Howlett, ACLU-NJ Communications Director, 973-854-1728 Allison Peltzman, ACLU-NJ Senior Communications Specialist, 973-854-1711 Professor Frank Askin, Rutgers School of Law-Newark, 973-353-3239 Renee Steinhagen, New Jersey Appleseed, 973-735-0523

Continue reading Voting Rights Groups Call for Election Day Registration

Surprise Medical Bills: What they are and how to stop them

Posted on by Myles Zhang

New Jersey’s leading consumer health coalition held a press conference today announcing the release of a new report, Surprise Medical Bills: what they are and how to stop them . The report examines the consequences and costs of these bills on New Jersey health care consumers and details the remedies necessary to fix the problem. and contains more than a dozen testimonials from consumers who have fallen victim to these out-of-network bills.

Continue reading Surprise Medical Bills: What they are and how to stop them

As investors buy struggling hospitals, big change comes to New Jersey health care

Posted on by Myles Zhang

Re-post from NorthJersey.com | Written by Lindy Washburn

Bayonne Medical Center wasn’t just bragging about efficiency when it posted a big digital clock on a highway billboard a few years ago to show the real-time waits in its emergency room. It wanted patients to come to its ER. Lots of patients.

It didn’t matter if the hospital was in the patient’s insurance network. On the contrary, to the businessmen who had recently purchased the medical center, those “out-of-network” patients held the key to reversing Bayonne’s fortunes.

These owners, who bought the hospital in bankruptcy, had found an unintended — and very profitable — consequence to a state regulation that was designed to protect patients with urgent medical needs. While the regulation required insurance companies to pay for emergency treatment at hospitals where their coverage wasn’t normally accepted, it did nothing to control the size of the bills the hospitals could submit to those insurers.

Read rest of article here and how this topic relates to NJ Appleseed’s work.

Do surface parking lots detract from a city’s stability and sustainability efforts?

Posted on by Renée Steinhagen

Our recent policy articles have asked this question.  New Jersey Appleseed is currently involved in a case that is working it’s way through the NJ Court System whereby the answer to this question from a group of concerned citizens in Newark is a decided “no.”

To read the appeal of City of Newark’s Zoning Board of Adjustment’s 13th d(l) use variance for a parking lot at 28 McWhorter Street, filed by Renee Steinhagen on behalf of group of concerned citizens click here.

Hoboken Refuses to Recognize Public Petition

Posted on by Myles Zhang

Written by Cheryl Fallick

On appeal from Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Hudson County, Docket No. L-2375-11. Victor A. Afanador argued the cause for appellants/cross-respondents James Farina and City of Hoboken (Lite DePalma Greenberg, LLC, attorneys; Mr. Afanador, of counsel and on the briefs; Marissa L. Quigley, on the briefs).

Charles X. Gormally argued the cause for appellants/cross-respondents Mile Square Taxpayer Association 2009, Inc. and Gina DeNardo (Brach Eichler, L.L.C., attorneys; Mr. Gormally, of counsel and on the briefs; Sean A. Smith, on the briefs).

You can read the full ruling here

New Jersey’s Vanishing Non-Profit Hospitals

Posted on by Renée Steinhagen

Starting this year, New Jersey nonprofit hospitals are set to be sold to out-of-state, for-profit entities at an alarming rate. New Jersey is already home to for-profit hospitals in which profitability seems to rest largely on complicated sale-leasebacks of their land and buildings, patient admissions through the emergency room that allow for excessive charges for “out-of-network” care, and other predatory practices.

These for-profit models appear to be in direct contrast to the goals of health reform, which call for reducing unnecessary treatment, increasing patient satisfaction and ensuring that all Americans have access to primary and preventive care in community settings, while reducing expensive emergency room use.

Continue reading New Jersey’s Vanishing Non-Profit Hospitals