"Knowledge will forever govern ignorance

 and a people who mean to be their own governors

 must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives."

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Corzine Underestimated Cost To Expand State Coverage To Uninsured

Remember when Jon Corzine was running for Governor he claimed he had a plan to insure 776,000 people in the state for $15 million? We wrote a number of posts on the subject explaining the absurdity of the claim, as did a number of New Jersey bloggers. At the time, Corzine attempted to defend this ridiculous $15 million campaign promise with a Corzine Connection post - Corzine's Health Care Plan: Why It Saves Money and Doesn't Tax NJ Citizens.

One year later, Governor Corzine’s proposed budget for 2007 is looking to add 50,000 children to the NJ FamilyCare program for a cost to state taxpayers of $5 million. That’s just six percent of those he claimed could be covered for $15 million. His cost estimate has jumped from $19.33 to $100 per person per year, but remains every bit as preposterous as his original claim, even when federal funding offsets are included in the calculation.

NJ Fiscal Folly brings our attention to an analysis of the proposed FamilyCare expansion completed by the Office of Legislative Services. (pages 44-45) The OLS report concludes the incremental first year cost of the expansion would be approximately $40-45 million and at least $67 million* the year after. That’s under the best case scenario.

OLS assumes coverage per child under NJ FamilyCare at $1,340, considerably less than the $1,788 it will cost New Jersey for each child enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program. Using the Medicaid rate, the total cost for covering an additional 50,000 would be $89.4 million. Whichever rate is chosen, Corzine’s expansion of NJ FamilyCare is going to cost millions more than he has budgeted - even after all federal funding has been taken into consideration.

The OLS report states that New Jersey is already receiving $140 million in federal funding for NJ FamilyCare - $50 million above the federal cap of $90 million. This largess has occurred because the federal government has reallocated unused funds from other states to New Jersey. But this pool of unexpended federal funds has been declining over the years as other states have expanded their own programs. Therefore, Corzine expansion plan might very well have to be funded entirely by state taxpayers to a tune of $67 - $89 million.

The second caution here is that once the coverage has been expanded, there’s no cutting back. It becomes what Corzine refers to as a “built-in cost” that can’t be touched. This is exactly how New Jersey got into the fiscal mess we’re in today – programs are added and expanded without regard for the long-term financial consequences for taxpayers.

The Governor has already stated that New Jersey will have a $1.5 billion budget shortfall next year if his tax and spending plan is approved this year. It makes you wonder what the actual budget gap will be considering all of Corzine’s new and increased spending plans. The Governor talks of fiscal restraint and but the reality is business as usual, spend more today, worry about paying for it tomorrow.

* As Paul points out, the difference between the estimated cost for the first year and the next is due to the time required to enroll 50,000 people, not all will be covered on day one of the budget year. Enrollment will increase month by moth until the goal of 50,000 is achieved - the second budget year will reflect the full cost of coverage for the additional 50,000 for an entire year.



4 Comments:

At 7:38 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I read NJ Fiscal Folly today and thought it was an excellent post. I should have posted my questions there, but I really didn't think it mattered. Anyway, Which 50,000 kids is he adding? What's the new criteria? How many kids are in now?

 
At 9:02 PM, Blogger Ken Adams said...

They don't really know. The five million in the budget isn't even the money to pay the program costs. It's listed as "outreach" money, to go recruit the 50k kids and their parents.

 
At 10:24 PM, Blogger Enlighten-NewJersey said...

Corzine is looking to increase participation in the program by 44%. As of January 2006, 113.700 children and some low income adults were enrolled in NJ FamilyCare. It appears as though that when the maximum participation goal is reached, the program is closed to new enrollments.

Presently, eligibility for NJ FamilyCare is based on a sliding scale of income and family size. For example, a family of 4 with an annual income up to $70,000 is eligible for coverage, as is a family of 7 with an income up to $105,700.

In addition to FamilyCare, the state’s Medicaid program covers 24% of New Jersey’s children. Based on information available as of 2004 - 364,000 children were covered by Medicaid

 
At 7:23 AM, Blogger Justin J. Rivera said...

I'm telling you folks, these liberal hacks are getting WAYYYYYY too arrogant for their own good! When that happens, that's usually a sign that the hammer is one second away from falling on these losers.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home


 Contact Us

  • Email Us
  • Blog Roll Us!

    Search

    Syndication

  • Atom Feed
  • Bloglines
  • Feedburner
  • Feedster
  • Add to Google
  • Add to My MSN
  • Add to My Yahoo
  • News Is Free

    Recent Posts

  • New Jersey Admits Abbott School Funding Has Been A...
  • Empty Classrooms In New Jersey
  • Straw Man
  • Carnival of the New Jersey Bloggers # 50
  • One Loud, Uninformed Progressive - Hightstown Coun...
  • Menendez” is Spanish for “Chutzpah"
  • The 'Rattled' Book Tour
  • It’s 'Déjà Vu, All Over Again - More Abbott Nonsense
  • Reflect On The Scale Of U.S. Economic Success
  • New Jersey Senate Budget Committee: Show Us 'Hones...

    Archives

  • November 2004
  • December 2004
  • January 2005
  • February 2005
  • March 2005
  • April 2005
  • May 2005
  • June 2005
  • July 2005
  • August 2005
  • September 2005
  • October 2005
  • November 2005
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • April 2008
  • November 2008
  • January 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • February 2012

    Online Journals

  • National Review

  • Opinion Journal

  • Real Clear Politics

  • Weekly Standard


  • Blog Roll

  • A Blog For All
  • Althouse
  • Ankle Biting Pundits
  • Barista of Bloomfield Avenue
  • Betsy's Page
  • Blue Crab Boulevard
  • Blogs For Condi
  • Bob the Corgi
  • Brainster's Blog
  • BuzzMachine
  • Captain's Quarter's
  • Cinnaman
  • Coalition of the Swilling
  • CWA-NJ
  • Dino's Forum
  • Daily Mail
  • Don Surber
  • DynamoBuzz
  • eCache
  • Exit 4
  • Fausta's Blog
  • GOP Bloggers
  • Instapundit
  • Joe's Journal
  • Kate Spot
  • Kausfiles.com
  • Little Green Footballs
  • Michelle Malkin
  • More Mnmouth Musings
  • Parkway Rest Stop
  • Patrick Ruffini
  • Polipundit
  • Power Line
  • Right Wing News
  • Roger L. Simon
  • The Blue State Conservatives
  • Riehl World View
  • Red Jersey
  • Right, Wing-Nut!
  • Sid in the City
  • Tiger Hawk
  • The Truth Laid Bear
  • Tim Blair
  • Wizbang


  • Sid in the City



    Majority Accountability Project

    MAP

    New Jersey Blogs

    Enlighten-Carnival-small

  • 11th and Washington


  • A Blog For All
  • A Planet Where Apes Evolved From Man?!?
  • Armies of Liberation
  • Atlantic Highland Muse
  • Attack of the 15.24 Mete


  • Barista of Bloomfield Avenue
  • BeLow Me
  • Big Windbag
  • Blanton's and Ashton's
  • Blue State Conservatives
  • Burning Feathers
  • BuzzMachine


  • Clifton Blogs
  • Coalition of the Swilling
  • Cobweb Studios
  • CoffeeGrounds
  • Constitutional Conservative
  • Confessions of a Jersey Goddess
  • Corzine Watch
  • Crazy Jackie
  • Cresting Acrocorinthus
  • Cripes, Suzette!


  • Daniella's Misadventures
  • Did I Say That Out Loud
  • Dojo Mojo
  • Dossy's Blog
  • Down the Shore
  • DynamoBuzz


  • eCache
  • Enlighten-NewJersey
  • Eye On Hoboken
  • Exit 4
  • Exit Zero
  • Extreme-Psychosis


  • Fausta's Blog
  • Fausti's Book Quest
  • Fractals of Change
  • Frenchtown NJ Blog


  • GiggleChick
  • Gregg Gethard's Amazing Personal Journey
  • goethe re scape


  • Hoboken Rock City


  • IamBillPower
  • If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawn-mower
  • Imaginary Therapy
  • Inadmissible Evidence
  • INCITE


  • Jersey Beat
  • Jersey Perspective
  • Jersey Side
  • Jersey Style
  • Jersey Writers
  • Joe's Journal


  • Karl's Corner
  • Kate Spot


  • Laughing At The Pieces
  • Likelihood of Confusion
  • Liss Is More


  • Mamacita
  • Mary's Lame Attempt at Fame
  • Media in Trouble
  • Michael Carroll
  • Mister Snitch!
  • MucknMire
  • My Life as a Rabid Blog
  • My New Jersey


  • New Jersey Eminent Domain Law
  • NJ Conservative
  • NJ Fiscal Folly
  • New Jersey For Change
  • New Jersey Weblogs
  • NJ Spoken Word
  • Northeast Corridor


  • Parkway Rest Stop
  • Philly2Hoboken.com
  • Poetic Leanings
  • Poor Impulse Control
  • Professor Kim's News Notes
  • Property Tax NJ


  • Rain Angel
  • Riehl World View


  • Shamrocketship
  • Shipwrecks
  • SloppyDawg
  • Sluggo Needs a Nap
  • SmadaNeK
  • Static Silence


  • Tami,The One True
  • Tammany on the Hudson
  • Tequila Shots For The Soul
  • The Art of Getting By
  • The Center of New Jersey Life
  • The Daily Fry
  • The Duc Pond
  • The Jersey Shore Real Estate Bubble
  • The Joy of Soup
  • The Mark(ings) of Zorro
  • The New Wisdom
  • The Nightfly
  • The Opinion Mill
  • The Pink Panther
  • The Political Dogs
  • The Rix Mix
  • This Full House
  • Tiger Hawk
  • Tomato Nation
  • Toxiclabrat
  • Twisty


  • Unbillable Hours
  • Usdin.Net


  • Where Is The Remote
  • Wine Goddess


  • Xpatriated Texan


  • Links

  • NJ Governor
  • NJ Legislature
  • GOP GOTV
  • Bob Menendez Information


  • Blog Rings

  • Blog Explosion
  • Blog Directory
  • Blogsnow
  • Blogwise
  • Blogstreet
  • Blogshares
  • Blogarama
  • Blog Digger
  • Daypop
  • Globe of Blogs
  • Blog Search Engine


  • Ecosystem Status


  • Who Links Here






  •