Noticias

State and union officials have to find major cuts to New Jersey’s public employee health program, and analyses released Wednesday from the state’s actuary found that increasing the portion of costs shouldered by workers offers the most savings of proposed solutions.

The Legislature required the cut as state health plans face increases in premiums, inflation, and uncertainty. This year’s state budget requires a $100 million cut in the first six months of 2026; state government and labor officials submitted their proposals for cuts at the end of last month. Aon, the firm serving as the State Health Benefit Program’s actuary, released its analyses of the proposals on Wednesday. 

The state’s most significant proposals would have state workers pay more out of pocket. Under existing plans, state employees pay between 2% and 7% of medical spending; the new proposals would bump those figures up to between 6% and 12%.

Aon said it couldn’t estimate savings for most of labor’s proposals, often due to a lack of information, a lack of time, or the fact that some proposals fell outside its purview. Some proposals, like a proposed incentive for workers to switch to a less expensive plan, did not come close to cutting the $200 million in annualized savings that are needed. Aon’s findings effectively put a number on the plethora of proposals, allowing for a final decision on how cuts are achieved.

The Plan Design Committee, split evenly between state and union officials, is slated to vote on the proposals next week. If the parties reach a deal, cuts can be solidified as soon as then. If disagreement and stalemate continue through September, the decision falls to state legislators. If Trenton lawmakers fail to pass a bill by Dec. 1, the tiebreaking decision falls to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.

The committee can select any combination of proposals to reach the needed level of cuts. Other proposals include changes in how GLP-1 weight loss drugs are covered — Aon said a complete removal of coverage for GLP-1 drugs would save $48 million per year.

“We appreciate the plan actuary’s analysis of both the State and Labor’s savings proposals and look forward to continuing our work with all parties to reach an agreement,” said Tyler Jones, a spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy’s office.

The Communications Workers of America, which represents many public workers in the Garden State, criticized the findings. Billy Gallagher, an assistant to the vice president at CWA District 1, said Aon failed to properly gauge the potential savings of labor’s proposals.

“This report should come as a surprise to no one—but it should anger every single taxpayer in the State of New Jersey,” Gallagher said. “The current Administration and Legislative leadership have, at various times, tacitly allowed this affordability crisis to spiral out of control, or been the outright drivers of it, so it’s no surprise that the actuary hand-picked by the State would sign off on their own recommendations, ignoring or outright attempting to discredit good-faith proposals we’ve made to put a stop to this.”

The cuts threaten to open a rift between state employee unions and Democrats in an election year, as hinted at by Gallagher.

“The State Health Benefits Plan covers 400,000 workers, retirees, and their family-members who will be heading to the ballot box later this year and will be making some tough decisions about who they elect to lead this state following an administration that has allowed hospital systems and insurance companies to run rampant while working families bear the brunt,” he said. “We need elected leaders in this state who will stand with us instead of undermine and work against us, and who will truly dedicate themselves to coming to solutions that don’t result in costs continuing to pile on taxpayers.”

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Brian Varela, a Democratic businessman running to take on Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) in New Jersey’s 7th congressional district, has hired a campaign manager: Emmett Shell.

Until this month, Shell had been running Hoboken City Councilwoman Emily Jabbour’s campaign for mayor. Shell had previously held roles on congressional campaigns in Oregon and Kentucky; he also spent a year and a half as a finance associate at Arrowhead Strategies, where he worked with a number of candidates around the country, among them now-New Jersey Rep. Herb Conaway (D-Delran).

“I’m excited to welcome Emmett to our team,” Varela said in a statement. “His diverse experience across several aspects of campaign operations, combined with his unmatched enthusiasm, makes him exactly the leader we need to take this campaign to the next level. Emmett understands what it takes to win, and I’m confident his strategic vision and operational expertise will be the catalyst that propels our campaign forward.”

Varela is one of eight Democrats currently running to challenge Kean; the eventual winner of the primary will face a tough general election fight in what could become one of the most competitive House races in the country.

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As electricity bills continue to soar across the state, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) promised Wednesday that she will use executive authority to immediately freeze utility rates if elected governor. 

The aggressive proposals come as Democratic state officials seek to address the 20% increase in electric rates that arrived this June and another, smaller bump expected next June. The rising prices are a potent political issue heading into November, with the governorship and Assembly at stake: Democrats largely blame the region’s energy grid operator, while Republicans blame Democratic clean-energy efforts.

Sherrill, the Democratic nominee to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy, said she would declare a state of emergency on the first day of her governorship and freeze utility rates, an action she says no governor has ever taken. She paired that declaration with a promise to build an “energy arsenal” of cheap, clean power sources in the state that will lower prices in the long run.

“When I take office, the average New Jersey family won’t see an increase in utility rates for an entire year,” the congresswoman said.

Sherrill announced her plans at a press conference outside the Kenilworth home of Herb and Mary Michitsch, who have been married for 57 years and lived in the house for 53 years. Herb said they used to pay less than $100 per month in utility bills, but the prices are now “creeping up” to $400 per month.

Under the state of emergency, the Democrat said she’d immediately break ground on solar and battery storage projects, as well as expand capacity at existing nuclear plants and modernize existing natural gas plants. Sherrill said she’ll “open up the books” of the state’s utility companies, including PSE&G and JCP&L.

She also said she’ll direct her attorney general to sue PJM Interconnection, the energy grid operator for New Jersey and 12 other states. Democrats blame PJM for recent utility woes, saying the organization mismanaged the implementation of new energy sources, particularly clean-energy sources. Sherrill said she hasn’t ruled out any options for reining in PJM’s mishandling of the grid, including potentially leaving the PJM system.

“We have more projects in the queue in New Jersey than we have power in the grid,” Sherrill said. “Many of those projects are clean power projects, so if they are going to continue to mismanage our grid like this, then yes, I’ll explore all options to drive in capacity and drive down costs.”

Other governors in the region have targeted PJM as well. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sued PJM last year; in a settlement, PJM agreed to cap how much it could increase electricity prices for 2026.

Sherrill’s proposal includes the construction of a fourth nuclear power plant in Salem County. Discussions and steps toward building the plant, which would be constructed on Artificial Island along the Delaware Bay, go back to at least 2010.

“We already have a pre-approved site there, the fourth site, so we have got to build that out,” Sherrill said. “I’ll sit down with neighboring states so that we can act together to drive down the cost of building new nuclear plants.”

Sherrill said Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican nominee for governor, won’t take on PJM or electric companies if it threatens his relationship with President Donald Trump. She said the Trump-backed budget bill is set to increase utility costs in the state by $220 per year.

“[Ciattarelli’s] called PJM, the largest grid operator in the United States, the grid operator that a bipartisan group of governors across the country blames for much of this mismanagement, ‘some regional nonprofit’ and said that holding them accountable is ‘a bunch of BS,’” she said.

In a dueling press release, Ciattarelli said Sherrill’s party is to blame for the increase in electric rates. Republicans have long attacked Murphy’s efforts to implement clean energy in the state, arguing that projects like offshore wind mean the state can’t keep up with increasing energy demands.

If elected governor, Ciattarelli said he’ll focus on diversifying the state’s energy sources, including natural gas and nuclear production.

“Mikie Sherrill has been a lockstep supporter of Phil Murphy’s failed energy policies in New Jersey and the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies in Washington,” Ciattarelli said in a release. “Policies obsessed with disastrous offshore wind farms, electric vehicle mandates where government tells you what kind of car you can drive, and effectively banning natural gas, forcing New Jersey to import electricity from other states and pay through the nose for it.”

Ciattarelli said Sherrill is inextricably tied to Democrats’ handling of energy in the state.

“Now, just 75 days from the election – with angry residents suffocating under the rising costs of electricity in New Jersey due to one-party Democrat control in Trenton – Mikie is trying to gaslight people into believing she had nothing to do with it,” he said.

Murphy and legislative Democrats passed a flurry of bills this summer when the extent of the price increases became clear. The governor, for example, signed a pair of bills last week that target PJM, directing a state regulatory board to investigate the grid operator’s pricing model. 

“We are committed to creating a system that is fairer and more transparent for customers and the states that represent them — a necessary change from the opaque practices that have, for too long, defined PJM,” the governor said about the bills.

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