TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said today he was “proud” of his decision to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, but plans to introduce better oversight to the $12 billion program so it can serve the 1.4 million people who rely on it for health care, housing and other services.

In his state budget address today, Christie took aim at what the medical professionals call “super-utilizers:” the people with chronic health conditions that frequently end up in emergency rooms and get admitted to the hospital. He said he has enlisted the nine schools that make up Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, as well as University Hospital in Newark, and Rutgers Camden, to find a more cost-effective way to reduce their reliance on costly hospital care.

“Last year, 5 percent of Medicaid recipients accounted for 50 percent of the costs,” Christie said. “More than 16,000 Medicaid recipients visited emergency rooms six or more times last year.”

He added, “I am proud to have made the decision to expand Medicaid and provide greater access to healthcare for New Jerseyans in need. But greater access necessitates larger reforms as well.”

The key is managing patient care more closely, Christie said, and the state is working with insurance carriers that provide Medicaid coverage to develop an “accountable care organization” to track these patients more carefully.

Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study Monday based on hospital admission data from 2007 to 2010, that found 55 percent of patients with 15 or more admissions visited more than one hospital. One in five had used three or more hospitals.

The state’s Medicaid program would get $200 million more in Christie’s $34.4 billion budget. He agreed to expand New Jersey’s Medicaid program under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act last year. In his next budget, the state will get about $100 million from the federal government and $100 million from the state.

Larry Downs, chief executive of the Medical Society of New Jersey, a lobbying group for doctors, said they “have a unique frontline perspective of the barriers and problems inherent in the current Medicaid program.”

“It remains a stubborn fact that access to physician services, particularly specialty care, is a challenge in the New Jersey Medicaid program,” Downs said. “Our citizens deserve access to a wide range of both primary care and specialist physicians when they need them.”

The budget also dedicates $125 million in state Medicaid funds to providing home-based support services to prevent senior citizens and adults with disabilities from needing institutional care.

Christie’s budget commits a total of $985.1 million toward hospital aid – the same amount as the current budget. But he deducted $25 million from the charity care pool, reducing it to $650 million, and moved $25 million to University Hospital “to continue to support its role as a health care cornerstone of the Newark Community, including maintaining its status as a Level 1 Trauma Center.”

Star-Ledger staff writer Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.

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Less than three weeks before the deadline for Americans to get health insurance, federal officials reported another 20,000 New Jersey residents have signed up for policies via the Obamacare website.

All told, 74,000 people have acquired private health insurance through one of three New Jersey insurance carriers offering policies on the website.

On the Medicaid front, an additional 16,000 signed up, bringing the total for the expanded program to 123,000.

Nationally, enrollment is up to 4.2 million — a number that will require an unprecedented surge in last-minute sign-ups to hit the Obama administration’s goal of 6 million.

The Affordable Care Act requires nearly all Americans to have some kind of health insurance by March 31 or face a possible fine via their income tax filings.

Much of the final push will be aimed at young adults, whose participation is crucial if insurance pools are to have enough money to cover older, sicker Americans.

That’s why President Obama participated in actor/comedian Zach Galifianakis’ mock interview show “Between Two Ferns.” The show generated the largest number of referrals to the federal website today — 19,000 of those who watched the video proceeded to heatlhcare.gov.

Nancy Metcalf, who studies health insurance for Consumer Reports, said many consumers fail to understand the March 31 deadline is also to get private insurance for the year, not just to avoid a fine. People who decide to sign up April 1 will have a rude surprise, she said.

“If you don’t get private insurance by the end of the month, you can’t get it again until 2015, not even if you get sick and would really, really like to have it,” she said. “If you need your appendix out in August you’d better be prepared to pay that $20,000 hospital bill yourself.”

In November, open enrollment will resume for policies that go into effect in 2015.

The number of New Jerseyans who have joined the state’s expanded Medicaid program is undoubtedly larger than the number cited by Washington, said Joel Cantor, director of the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University.

People can enroll in Medicaid directly, without going to the federal website, he said. In addition, they will be able to enroll throughout the year.

He found the regular, non-Medicaid enrollment figure a bit low. One theory is that people who knew they wouldn’t be able to renew policies that were doomed for cancellation grabbed the chance to renew early, he said. That means they’re covered for now.

The administration is counting on a e spike of March enrollments that will rival the flood of pre-Christmas applications. And officials insist their website, healthcare.gov, will be able to handle the traffic now.

The dropped calls, hold times and slow webpage load times that plagued the site last fall have been addressed, officials said, by adding capacity, tweaking the website, and hiring 2,000 operators.

In their conference call with reporters, HHS officials refused to predict if they’d meet their goals. However, in an internal HHS memo obtained by The Associated Press last fall, officials set a goal of 96,000 enrollments from New Jersey — or another 22,000 this month..

Although all sorts of regulations have been changed or delayed since enrollment began in October, the March 31 deadline is a hard one.

“We have no plans to extend the open enrollment period,” said an HHS spokeswoman.

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said today he was “proud” of his decision to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, but plans to introduce better oversight to the $12 billion program so it can serve the 1.4 million people who rely on it for health care, housing and other services.

In his state budget address today, Christie took aim at what the medical professionals call “super-utilizers:” the people with chronic health conditions that frequently end up in emergency rooms and get admitted to the hospital. He said he has enlisted the nine schools that make up Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, as well as University Hospital in Newark, and Rutgers Camden, to find a more cost-effective way to reduce their reliance on costly hospital care.

“Last year, 5 percent of Medicaid recipients accounted for 50 percent of the costs,” Christie said. “More than 16,000 Medicaid recipients visited emergency rooms six or more times last year.”

He added, “I am proud to have made the decision to expand Medicaid and provide greater access to healthcare for New Jerseyans in need. But greater access necessitates larger reforms as well.”

The key is managing patient care more closely, Christie said, and the state is working with insurance carriers that provide Medicaid coverage to develop an “accountable care organization” to track these patients more carefully.

Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study Monday based on hospital admission data from 2007 to 2010, that found 55 percent of patients with 15 or more admissions visited more than one hospital. One in five had used three or more hospitals.

The state’s Medicaid program would get $200 million more in Christie’s $34.4 billion budget. He agreed to expand New Jersey’s Medicaid program under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act last year. In his next budget, the state will get about $100 million from the federal government and $100 million from the state.

Larry Downs, chief executive of the Medical Society of New Jersey, a lobbying group for doctors, said they “have a unique frontline perspective of the barriers and problems inherent in the current Medicaid program.”

“It remains a stubborn fact that access to physician services, particularly specialty care, is a challenge in the New Jersey Medicaid program,” Downs said. “Our citizens deserve access to a wide range of both primary care and specialist physicians when they need them.”

The budget also dedicates $125 million in state Medicaid funds to providing home-based support services to prevent senior citizens and adults with disabilities from needing institutional care.

Christie’s budget commits a total of $985.1 million toward hospital aid – the same amount as the current budget. But he deducted $25 million from the charity care pool, reducing it to $650 million, and moved $25 million to University Hospital “to continue to support its role as a health care cornerstone of the Newark Community, including maintaining its status as a Level 1 Trauma Center.”

Star-Ledger staff writer Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Chris Christie pitches pension fix in $34.4B NJ budget

• N.J. doctors least likely to accept new Medicaid patients, survey says

• More Politics

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said today he was “proud” of his decision to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, but plans to introduce better oversight to the $12 billion program so it can serve the 1.4 million people who rely on it for health care, housing and other services.

In his state budget address today, Christie took aim at what the medical professionals call “super-utilizers:” the people with chronic health conditions that frequently end up in emergency rooms and get admitted to the hospital. He said he has enlisted the nine schools that make up Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, as well as University Hospital in Newark, and Rutgers Camden, to find a more cost-effective way to reduce their reliance on costly hospital care.

“Last year, 5 percent of Medicaid recipients accounted for 50 percent of the costs,” Christie said. “More than 16,000 Medicaid recipients visited emergency rooms six or more times last year.”

He added, “I am proud to have made the decision to expand Medicaid and provide greater access to healthcare for New Jerseyans in need. But greater access necessitates larger reforms as well.”

The key is managing patient care more closely, Christie said, and the state is working with insurance carriers that provide Medicaid coverage to develop an “accountable care organization” to track these patients more carefully.

Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study Monday based on hospital admission data from 2007 to 2010, that found 55 percent of patients with 15 or more admissions visited more than one hospital. One in five had used three or more hospitals.

The state’s Medicaid program would get $200 million more in Christie’s $34.4 billion budget. He agreed to expand New Jersey’s Medicaid program under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act last year. In his next budget, the state will get about $100 million from the federal government and $100 million from the state.

Larry Downs, chief executive of the Medical Society of New Jersey, a lobbying group for doctors, said they “have a unique frontline perspective of the barriers and problems inherent in the current Medicaid program.”

“It remains a stubborn fact that access to physician services, particularly specialty care, is a challenge in the New Jersey Medicaid program,” Downs said. “Our citizens deserve access to a wide range of both primary care and specialist physicians when they need them.”

The budget also dedicates $125 million in state Medicaid funds to providing home-based support services to prevent senior citizens and adults with disabilities from needing institutional care.

Christie’s budget commits a total of $985.1 million toward hospital aid – the same amount as the current budget. But he deducted $25 million from the charity care pool, reducing it to $650 million, and moved $25 million to University Hospital “to continue to support its role as a health care cornerstone of the Newark Community, including maintaining its status as a Level 1 Trauma Center.”

Star-Ledger staff writer Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Chris Christie pitches pension fix in $34.4B NJ budget

• N.J. doctors least likely to accept new Medicaid patients, survey says

• More Politics

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said today he was “proud” of his decision to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, but plans to introduce better oversight to the $12 billion program so it can serve the 1.4 million people who rely on it for health care, housing and other services.

In his state budget address today, Christie took aim at what the medical professionals call “super-utilizers:” the people with chronic health conditions that frequently end up in emergency rooms and get admitted to the hospital. He said he has enlisted the nine schools that make up Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, as well as University Hospital in Newark, and Rutgers Camden, to find a more cost-effective way to reduce their reliance on costly hospital care.

“Last year, 5 percent of Medicaid recipients accounted for 50 percent of the costs,” Christie said. “More than 16,000 Medicaid recipients visited emergency rooms six or more times last year.”

He added, “I am proud to have made the decision to expand Medicaid and provide greater access to healthcare for New Jerseyans in need. But greater access necessitates larger reforms as well.”

The key is managing patient care more closely, Christie said, and the state is working with insurance carriers that provide Medicaid coverage to develop an “accountable care organization” to track these patients more carefully.

Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study Monday based on hospital admission data from 2007 to 2010, that found 55 percent of patients with 15 or more admissions visited more than one hospital. One in five had used three or more hospitals.

The state’s Medicaid program would get $200 million more in Christie’s $34.4 billion budget. He agreed to expand New Jersey’s Medicaid program under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act last year. In his next budget, the state will get about $100 million from the federal government and $100 million from the state.

Larry Downs, chief executive of the Medical Society of New Jersey, a lobbying group for doctors, said they “have a unique frontline perspective of the barriers and problems inherent in the current Medicaid program.”

“It remains a stubborn fact that access to physician services, particularly specialty care, is a challenge in the New Jersey Medicaid program,” Downs said. “Our citizens deserve access to a wide range of both primary care and specialist physicians when they need them.”

The budget also dedicates $125 million in state Medicaid funds to providing home-based support services to prevent senior citizens and adults with disabilities from needing institutional care.

Christie’s budget commits a total of $985.1 million toward hospital aid – the same amount as the current budget. But he deducted $25 million from the charity care pool, reducing it to $650 million, and moved $25 million to University Hospital “to continue to support its role as a health care cornerstone of the Newark Community, including maintaining its status as a Level 1 Trauma Center.”

Star-Ledger staff writer Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Chris Christie pitches pension fix in $34.4B NJ budget

• N.J. doctors least likely to accept new Medicaid patients, survey says

• More Politics

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said today he was “proud” of his decision to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, but plans to introduce better oversight to the $12 billion program so it can serve the 1.4 million people who rely on it for health care, housing and other services.

In his state budget address today, Christie took aim at what the medical professionals call “super-utilizers:” the people with chronic health conditions that frequently end up in emergency rooms and get admitted to the hospital. He said he has enlisted the nine schools that make up Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, as well as University Hospital in Newark, and Rutgers Camden, to find a more cost-effective way to reduce their reliance on costly hospital care.

“Last year, 5 percent of Medicaid recipients accounted for 50 percent of the costs,” Christie said. “More than 16,000 Medicaid recipients visited emergency rooms six or more times last year.”

He added, “I am proud to have made the decision to expand Medicaid and provide greater access to healthcare for New Jerseyans in need. But greater access necessitates larger reforms as well.”

The key is managing patient care more closely, Christie said, and the state is working with insurance carriers that provide Medicaid coverage to develop an “accountable care organization” to track these patients more carefully.

Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study Monday based on hospital admission data from 2007 to 2010, that found 55 percent of patients with 15 or more admissions visited more than one hospital. One in five had used three or more hospitals.

The state’s Medicaid program would get $200 million more in Christie’s $34.4 billion budget. He agreed to expand New Jersey’s Medicaid program under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act last year. In his next budget, the state will get about $100 million from the federal government and $100 million from the state.

Larry Downs, chief executive of the Medical Society of New Jersey, a lobbying group for doctors, said they “have a unique frontline perspective of the barriers and problems inherent in the current Medicaid program.”

“It remains a stubborn fact that access to physician services, particularly specialty care, is a challenge in the New Jersey Medicaid program,” Downs said. “Our citizens deserve access to a wide range of both primary care and specialist physicians when they need them.”

The budget also dedicates $125 million in state Medicaid funds to providing home-based support services to prevent senior citizens and adults with disabilities from needing institutional care.

Christie’s budget commits a total of $985.1 million toward hospital aid – the same amount as the current budget. But he deducted $25 million from the charity care pool, reducing it to $650 million, and moved $25 million to University Hospital “to continue to support its role as a health care cornerstone of the Newark Community, including maintaining its status as a Level 1 Trauma Center.”

Star-Ledger staff writer Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Chris Christie pitches pension fix in $34.4B NJ budget

• N.J. doctors least likely to accept new Medicaid patients, survey says

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A Democratic candidate for South Carolina governor has called out Gov. Chris Christie as a hypocrite after the Republican Governors Associate attacked the candidate for his stance on Medicaid expansion – a stance Christie himself has taken in New
Jersey.

Democrat Vincent Sheheen is the presumptive Democratic nominee and is set to challenge Republican Gov. Nikki Haley in the general election. In a recent attack add,
the Christie-led RGA slammed Sheheen for advocating for the use of government dollars to expand Medicaid.

But the problem, according to Sheheen, is that last year, Christie, who is chairman of the RGA, actually made the decision to
accept federal dollars for expansion in New Jersey.

In a letter
to Christie, Sheheen asked for an explanation.

“You and I have the same position on this issue—keep our own
federal tax dollars working for the people of our states,” Sheheen said.
“Then today, the Republican Governors Association, which you Chair, launched attack
ads against me for taking the same position that you and seven other GOP
Governors have taken on Medicaid expansion.”

Sheheen
asked the governor to show what sort of impact the federal money has had on the
state, and if it was a positive one, rescind the attack ad.

“So please – provide us with the numbers on the impact
that your choice to accept federal Medicaid dollars has had on New Jersey to clarify this matter once and for all,
Sheheen said.  “And if, as you
predicted, that choice to reclaim your state’s tax dollars has benefited New Jersey, then I call on you to have the RGA
take down this misleading attack ad.”

A spokesman for the governor referred questions to the
RGA.  In an email, a spokesman for the
RGA did not address Christie’s support for the measure, but continued the
attack on Sheheen.

“Vincent Sheheen is an unapologetic supporter
of ObamaCare, spokesman Jon Thompson said on an email. “It’s no surprise
he doesn’t like the RGA’s latest ad because he knows what many South
Carolinians already know: ObamaCare is a bad law and it’s costing families and
businesses more of their hard earned money and jobs in the Palmetto State. No
amount of fake outrage from Vincent Sheheen will disguise his staunch support
for ObamaCare.”

In a follow-up email asking about the RGA’s position on Christie’s support of Medicaid expansion, Thompson said every state is different.

“Republican governors have made it clear, ObamaCare is a bad law,” he said. “Every governor has had to make the tough calls on what their states can afford, and what their states cannot afford, and every state is different. In South Carolina, the difference is clear, you have a Republican governor who opposes it, and you have a Democratic candidate who supports it.”

During his 2013 budget address, Christie announced the plan
to expand Medicaid using federal dollars.

“Accepting these federal
resources will provide health insurance to tens of thousands of low-income New
Jerseyans, help keep our hospitals financially healthy and actually save New
Jersey taxpayers money,” Christie said at the time.

In all, eight Republican governor’s
nationwide made a similar decision, despite opposition from conservatives,
including potential GOP presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who
called the expansion “not a very conservative proposal.”

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said today he was “proud” of his decision to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, but plans to introduce better oversight to the $12 billion program so it can serve the 1.4 million people who rely on it for health care, housing and other services.

In his state budget address today, Christie took aim at what the medical professionals call “super-utilizers:” the people with chronic health conditions that frequently end up in emergency rooms and get admitted to the hospital. He said he has enlisted the nine schools that make up Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, as well as University Hospital in Newark, and Rutgers Camden, to find a more cost-effective way to reduce their reliance on costly hospital care.

“Last year, 5 percent of Medicaid recipients accounted for 50 percent of the costs,” Christie said. “More than 16,000 Medicaid recipients visited emergency rooms six or more times last year.”

He added, “I am proud to have made the decision to expand Medicaid and provide greater access to healthcare for New Jerseyans in need. But greater access necessitates larger reforms as well.”

The key is managing patient care more closely, Christie said, and the state is working with insurance carriers that provide Medicaid coverage to develop an “accountable care organization” to track these patients more carefully.

Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study Monday based on hospital admission data from 2007 to 2010, that found 55 percent of patients with 15 or more admissions visited more than one hospital. One in five had used three or more hospitals.

The state’s Medicaid program would get $200 million more in Christie’s $34.4 billion budget. He agreed to expand New Jersey’s Medicaid program under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act last year. In his next budget, the state will get about $100 million from the federal government and $100 million from the state.

Larry Downs, chief executive of the Medical Society of New Jersey, a lobbying group for doctors, said they “have a unique frontline perspective of the barriers and problems inherent in the current Medicaid program.”

“It remains a stubborn fact that access to physician services, particularly specialty care, is a challenge in the New Jersey Medicaid program,” Downs said. “Our citizens deserve access to a wide range of both primary care and specialist physicians when they need them.”

The budget also dedicates $125 million in state Medicaid funds to providing home-based support services to prevent senior citizens and adults with disabilities from needing institutional care.

Christie’s budget commits a total of $985.1 million toward hospital aid – the same amount as the current budget. But he deducted $25 million from the charity care pool, reducing it to $650 million, and moved $25 million to University Hospital “to continue to support its role as a health care cornerstone of the Newark Community, including maintaining its status as a Level 1 Trauma Center.”

Star-Ledger staff writer Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Chris Christie pitches pension fix in $34.4B NJ budget

• N.J. doctors least likely to accept new Medicaid patients, survey says

• More Politics

TRENTON — Gov. Chris Christie said today he was “proud” of his decision to expand Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act, but plans to introduce better oversight to the $12 billion program so it can serve the 1.4 million people who rely on it for health care, housing and other services.

In his state budget address today, Christie took aim at what the medical professionals call “super-utilizers:” the people with chronic health conditions that frequently end up in emergency rooms and get admitted to the hospital. He said he has enlisted the nine schools that make up Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, as well as University Hospital in Newark, and Rutgers Camden, to find a more cost-effective way to reduce their reliance on costly hospital care.

“Last year, 5 percent of Medicaid recipients accounted for 50 percent of the costs,” Christie said. “More than 16,000 Medicaid recipients visited emergency rooms six or more times last year.”

He added, “I am proud to have made the decision to expand Medicaid and provide greater access to healthcare for New Jerseyans in need. But greater access necessitates larger reforms as well.”

The key is managing patient care more closely, Christie said, and the state is working with insurance carriers that provide Medicaid coverage to develop an “accountable care organization” to track these patients more carefully.

Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study Monday based on hospital admission data from 2007 to 2010, that found 55 percent of patients with 15 or more admissions visited more than one hospital. One in five had used three or more hospitals.

The state’s Medicaid program would get $200 million more in Christie’s $34.4 billion budget. He agreed to expand New Jersey’s Medicaid program under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act last year. In his next budget, the state will get about $100 million from the federal government and $100 million from the state.

Larry Downs, chief executive of the Medical Society of New Jersey, a lobbying group for doctors, said they “have a unique frontline perspective of the barriers and problems inherent in the current Medicaid program.”

“It remains a stubborn fact that access to physician services, particularly specialty care, is a challenge in the New Jersey Medicaid program,” Downs said. “Our citizens deserve access to a wide range of both primary care and specialist physicians when they need them.”

The budget also dedicates $125 million in state Medicaid funds to providing home-based support services to prevent senior citizens and adults with disabilities from needing institutional care.

Christie’s budget commits a total of $985.1 million toward hospital aid – the same amount as the current budget. But he deducted $25 million from the charity care pool, reducing it to $650 million, and moved $25 million to University Hospital “to continue to support its role as a health care cornerstone of the Newark Community, including maintaining its status as a Level 1 Trauma Center.”

Star-Ledger staff writer Salvador Rizzo contributed to this report.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Chris Christie pitches pension fix in $34.4B NJ budget

• N.J. doctors least likely to accept new Medicaid patients, survey says

• More Politics