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New Jersey Legislature Approves Bill To Expand FamilyCare Program and Mandates Coverage for All Children [6/23/2008]
The New Jersey Legislature approved legislation that would expand health care coverage for parents and mandate that all children have coverage. The bill easily passed both houses of the legislature and Gov. Jon Corzine (D) is expected to sign the bill into law.
The bill would require all uninsured children in the state to obtain private or state-funded health coverage within the first year of the bill's enactment. The plan is expected to begin in September. The program also will expand NJ FamilyCare, the state's version of SCHIP, to parents with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level, or about $42,000 a year for a family of four.
Some 240,000 children in New Jersey are part of the estimated 1.25 million state residents with no health insurance, according to state data. NJ FamilyCare already covers some 200,000 children and low-income parents. State Senator Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), the bill sponsor, expects the expansion within a year to enroll 25,000 parents, and a total of 80,000 new people within three years.
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NJ FamilyCare
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