WASHINGTON, D.C.—Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), senior Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee and a primary author of the Affordable Care Act, released the following statement upon New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s announcement that he will accept the expansion of Medicaid funds as a part of the Affordable Care Act.  A recent nonpartisan study by New Jersey Policy Prospective showed that New Jersey would stand to save $2.45 billion over the next nine years as a result of the Medicaid expansion:

“Expanding Medicaid in New Jersey just makes sense.  The expansion of the Medicaid in the Affordable Care Act will save New Jersey billions of dollars that can be spend for other pressing needs in our state.  The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion will improve the health of hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans with the added benefit of extraordinary cost savings.

“I fought hard to make sure this critical expansion of Medicaid was included in the Affordable Care Act and I am pleased to see that New Jersey will see yet another benefit from this landmark legislation come to fruition.  Medicaid expansion will not only improve New Jerseyans access to affordable health care, it will improve our economic health as well.  With all of New Jersey’s pressing needs right now, it is assuring that this assistance will help us to devote more resources toward building our economy and creating jobs.”