Members Portal | Contact Us

News

HINJ Joins Rep. Pallone for Launch of Statewide Effort to Make Health Care Work for New Jersey

Trenton, NJ, March 16, 2009 — Joined by a broad variety of New Jersey organizations that are united in calling for health care reform this year, Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) today launched a major statewide effort to make healthcare work for New Jersey.

Congressman Pallone, who serves as the Chairman of the powerful Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, wants to hear from all New Jerseyans about how best to reform our nation’s broken health care system.

“For far too long, people in Washington have talked about reform, but have never succeeded in doing anything about it.  That is about to change,” Congressman Pallone said.  “Today is the beginning of a statewide discussion that I want to take place through my website, through field hearings and town hall meetings, and through roundtable discussions all around our state.  I want to take the ideas of New Jersey doctors, small business owners, drug manufacturers, workers and patients back to Washington as we begin the process of reforming our health care system.”

In the coming months, Congressman Pallone will travel the state to hear from constituencies on how best to reform our health care system by hosting:

  • Field hearings
  • Town hall meetings
  • Roundtable discussions on economic impacts with business and labor
  • Tours of hospitals, health centers and manufacturing sites
  • Mass statewide conference calls
  • Online chats and surveys

Congressman Pallone will also use his website, www.pallonefornewjersey.com, to maintain the dialogue.

As the healthcare discussion begins, Congressman Pallone plans to focus on four main areas with the people of New Jersey.

  • Improve Access to Care:  Today, 1.3 million New Jerseyans are uninsured. Hospitals and other providers are crumbling under the growing costs of providing uncompensated care to the uninsured.  For every 1,000 people in New Jersey 376 of them will visit an emergency room.  As a result, those people who have insurance but live in communities with a high uninsured population have increasing difficulty in obtaining the care they need.
  • Expand Affordable Coverage:  Here in New Jersey, health care costs have increased three times as fast as wages.  Expanding affordable coverage by eliminating the constant growth in health care costs is essential so that more families can afford their coverage.
  • Lower Costs by Making Healthcare More Efficient:  One of the best ways to lower costs is by making our health care system more efficient. As more physicians are able to adopt and use health information technology, we can facilitate greater communication among providers, increasing coordination of care and reducing costs.
  • Strengthen Public Health:  Investing in prevention and focusing on primary care are also key parts to improving public health. Americans suffer from higher morbidity and mortality rates than other industrialized countries that spend far less on health care. Changing our system to focus on prevention, rather than simply reacting to illnesses or injuries once they occur, will improve our healthcare system dramatically.

Already this year, Pallone led efforts in Washington to expand FamilyCare to an additional 116,000 children in New Jersey.  He also worked to ensure New Jersey will receive $2.1 billion so that the state can address its increasing Medicaid costs.

Over the last two weeks, the New Jersey congressman attended a White House Health Care Summit and held his first in a series of hearings on health care reform in his subcommittee.

Congressman Pallone, speaking on Monday at the launch of his New Jersey-focused initiative on health care reform.

The participants at Monday’s kick-off for Making Health Care Work for New Jersey included:

Consumer/Advocacy Groups

  • AARP – Marilyn Askin, Doug Johnston, Blenda Riddick
  • NJ Citizen Action – Marilyn Carpenter, Eve Weissman
  • American Cancer Society – Marian Morrison
  • American Heart Association – Katie Drude
  • Planned Parenthood – Phyllis Kinsler

Business

  • HealthCare Institute of New Jersey (HINJ) – The Honorable Bob Franks
  • NJ Business & Industry Association – Christine Stearns

Clergy

  • Camden Churches Organized for People – Pastor Heyward Wiggins, Josh Chisholm

Labor

  • NJ AFL-CIO – Laurel Brennan
  • SEIU State Council – Dave McCann
  • HPAE – Ann Twomey
  • NJ Laborers

Health Organizations

  • NJ Health Care Quality Institute – David Knowlton, Sarah McClellan
  • NJ Hospital Association – Betsy Ryan
  • Greater NY Hospital Association
  • NJ Medical Society – Eileen Kean
  • NJ State Teaching Hospitals – Pete Lillo
  • NJ Primary Care Association – Kathy Grant Davis
  • Various Community Health Center Executive Directors
  • Various Hospital Presidents/CEOs