Schaer: Soaring Health Care Costs Show Need for Reform Bill

(36th LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT) – Assemblyman Gary Schaer on Wednesday said a new report showing health care premiums for family coverage have risen 53 percent on average since 2003 in New Jersey is more evidence of the need for his bill to bring transparency, disclosure and quality assessments to the health care marketplace and reduce costs for consumers and businesses.

The report by the Commonwealth Fund found premiums for family coverage in New Jersey increased 53 percent from 2003 through 2011, to an average of $15,589. For single coverage, premiums increased by 49 percent to $5,673.

“We need to better inform health care consumers of their own financial responsibility should they choose to go out-of-network and ask physicians to disclose, in full, the patient’s financial responsibility prior to a procedure being done,” said Schaer (D-Passaic/Bergen). “We can help New Jerseyans make the right choices. By doing so, we can finally begin to control the cost of health care..."

To read more, please visit the New Jersey General Assembly Democratic Office Web site.

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