NJEA’s officers, President Sean Spiller, Vice President Steve Beatty and Secretary-Treasurer Petal Robertson released this statement regarding the misleading and irresponsible report issued by the Department of Treasury regarding the condition of the State Health Benefit Program for Local Government (SHBP-LG):
“The NJEA members we represent are not part of the SHBP-LG, but we are all too familiar with the impulse of some people in power to attack public employees over the cost of their health care. Instead of seeking collaborative solutions, the report proposes more of what has gotten us here in the first place: shifting ever-more costs into New Jersey’s working families so that insurance companies, insurance brokers, the healthcare industry and the pharmaceutical industry can protect every penny of their outsized profits.
“The anonymous authors of the report are quick to blame middle-class public employees who have no control over health insurance costs. Meanwhile, those insurance companies, insurance brokers, the healthcare industry and the pharmaceutical industry continue to grow richer by the day while beating back attempts to increase transparency so that the public can see where the money is really going.
“It’s beyond disrespectful that the Department of Treasury would release a report like this without any discussion or consultation with the public employees it is targeting for drastic cuts. But the truth is, they want to shut us out of the process because they don’t want to hear what we have to say. They know that we will not stand for their false claims about why costs are rising. And they know we will not remain silent while the real culprits continue to profit off of the pain of working people.
“We have called for solutions. We have asked repeatedly why the state has wasted hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years by refusing the rebid the prescription drug contract, as required by law. That failure has hurt employees, employers and other taxpayers while helping only the huge corporation that has not had to compete for our prescription drug dollars. Likewise, the state’s repeated failure to rebid the overall health insurance contract as often as possible has left opportunities for savings on the table. That is unconscionable.
“We stand ready to work with the state on win-win solutions that stabilize all of our public employee health insurance plans by prioritizing transparency and efficiency. We did that in 2020 with a redesigned plan that dramatically lowered costs for our members while protecting the quality of their care. That plan, according to the state’s own actuaries, saved at least $462 million for taxpayers in just three years and continues to save today. We were also solution-focused when we worked with the state to move retirees into Medicare Advantage plans that protected benefit levels and saved the state money.
“While we are ready to sit down and discuss solutions, we will never sit back while greedy companies and compliant politicians try to shift the blame for their failure. It is shameful that too many of our elected leaders seem more invested in protecting the broken status quo that benefits everyone who profits off of heath care and punishes everyone who uses healthcare. It’s just one more reason we are determined to elect Sean Spiller as New Jersey’s next governor. It’s long past time for leadership that will prioritize working people’s needs over corporate profits. Sean has the experience, courage and integrity to make sure health insurance works for the people who rely on it, not just for companies to profit off of it.”