Price Hike In Healthcare Premiums Addressed By Madison Mayor

MADISON, NJ — Mayor Robert Conley spoke at a press conference yesterday to address how residents of Madison Borough will be impacted by upcoming increases in health insurance premiums.

The event, held on the front steps of the Morris Township Municipal Building, served as an informational discussion as well as a call to action and a plea for change to the elected officials in Trenton.

The state surprised all New Jersey municipalities, including Madison Borough, with a 20% increase in healthcare insurance rates earlier this fall, prompting local governments to pass resolutions opposing the increase in an effort to fight back.

Read More: Increased Healthcare Costs Challenged By Madison Council

The conference was attended by all mayors and elected officials from Southeast Morris towns, including the Chathams, Morris Township, Morristown and Morris Plains.

"The substantial premium increases of over 20% proposed for State Health Benefits Program participants is yet another burden taxpayers and public employees will be left to carry and will leave many towns grappling with the potential for layoffs, the cancelation of important public projects, and/or tax increases," said Mayor Mark Gyorfy, Morris Township Mayor.

Hundreds of thousands of New Jersey public employees, early retirees, and school employees could face rate increases of up to 20% for health benefits under the new healthcare proposals.

Locally, Madison residents may experience budget constraints and higher property taxes as a result of the significant increases in health insurance premiums.

Municipalities across the county, according to officials, have faced daunting challenges in recent years to keep public finances in order, ranging from the unexpected and complex effects of the COVID-19 pandemic to subsequent cost increases for basic services due to inflation.

"To put it in perspective our 2022 operating budget is $33 million with a line item of $1.9 million for health insurance. That's six percent of our overall budget. The math does not work without reducing services or increasing taxes," Conley said.

During the conference, officials explained that the taxpayers will more than likely end up bearing the brunt of the premium hike.

In 2023, under the new proposed rates, the health insurance costs for Madison Borough are estimated to go up to $2.4 million. "So yes, we are facing a major budget challenge and I haven't even mentioned the employee share going up a total of $135,000, or an average of $1,300 for each of our 103 employees," Conley said.

Senator Anthony M. Bucco stated following the press conference that the mayors of Morris County were correct to be concerned about the impending impact of massive health insurance premium increases.

“It’s clear, however, that Governor Murphy knew this was coming as early as February, months before the increases were announced. Had the governor shared that knowledge with the rest of us this spring, we could have worked on a solution with mayors, local governments, and the administration as part of the State Budget adopted in June. Unfortunately, that never happened because the administration wasn’t transparent about what it knew.”

"This was not a surprise. It was out months and months ago. A deal was cut with the state at three percent increase, but no deal was cut with the municipalities," Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty said.