Advocacy

TRENTON - Governor Jon S. Corzine signed the following bills into law on Sunday, January 13, with related statements:

S-502/A-1011 w/Statement (Gill/Prieto, Stack, Cohen, Panter) – Requires health benefits coverage by health insurers and SHBP for orthotic and prosthetic appliances and provides reimbursement therefore.

“I commend the sponsors of Senate Bill No. 502 (First Reprint), which I signed today, for recognizing the importance of making sure that persons in need of orthotic or prosthetic appliances obtain them.

“While I have signed this measure in light of the critical nature of the issue for persons who need these appliances, I do have several concerns about elements of the bill which would have led me to conditionally veto the bill had it been presented to me in other circumstances. First, I have a general concern with bills that mandate specific insurance coverage. These bills deal piecemeal with issues of cost and coverage that might better be addressed more comprehensively. In that regard, I commend the work of the New Jersey Mandated Health Insurance Advisory Commission, and I will continue to read its reports with interest.

On April 13th, 2008 Bill S502 becomes law.
The new law provides coverage for Orthotics & Prosthetics at the levels specified by Medicare to policies written or renewed in New Jersey on or after April 13th. Therefore if your insurance is from a company based in New Jersey, you will be covered when your policy is renewed. For example if your companies insurance coverage is from January to January then your coverage will not take effect until January 2009.

There are policies that are not required to add this coverage; If you are working for a company that is not based in New Jersey and they are self insured or their policy is written in the state where they are based the law does not apply.

AMPS IN ACTION Members are pictured below in Trenton on January 7th with Senator Nia Gill (senate bill sponsor) & Nancy Pinkin (form the lobby firm MBI GluckShaw)

Pictured above from left to right; Nancy Pinkin, Susan Lazarchick, Senator Nia Gill, Rodger Kearns (in the back), Dennis ODonnell, Bill Wagner and Mickey Nespol

On Saturday, December 29, 2007, the President signed S. 2499, the "Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007". In addition to permanently freezing the 75% Rule at a 60 percent level, the new law allows patients’ secondary medical conditions, or comorbidities, to continue to serve as a basis for access to inpatient rehabilitation services.

This was a bi-partisan solution to a bi-partisan problem. 240 members of the U.S. House and 61 members of the U.S. Senate cosponsored H.R.1459/S.543 which served as the basis for the legislation. It was a victory for patients, their families, their physicians and for people throughout the country who rely on professional, specialized health care.