The issue was trust – pure and simple.

Those who “trust” Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield to do what’s best for the health of New Jersey residents, or the state to watch them,  support a restructuring plan now moving through the Legislature.

Those who don’t trust Horizon, or the state, oppose it.

That really is the simple bottom line in what is a very complicated matter.

The legislation would restructure Horizon from a health services company to a mutual holding company. The company’s non-profit status will remain.

Supporters say this would allow Horizon to expand, to grow and to ultimately do a better job serving about 3.6 million New Jersey residents.

Last week, Assemblyman John McKeon offered a rather odd analogy, saying that “reptiles” adapt, but dinosaurs don’t and become extinct. Calling someone, or something, a reptile is usually not a favorable designation, but these are strange times.

Opponents said the bill is being rushed in the middle of a pandemic and just before the holidays. Concerns were also raised about transparency. Skeptics suggested that a Horizon expansion under the bill could intermingle a non-profit company with “for profit” endeavors to the detriment of average people. It was noted, after all, that Horizon wields much political influence.

At the end of a lengthy hearing before the Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee that ended this afternoon, the vote was a bit anticlimactic.

Democrats, who have a healthy majority on the committee, voted to release the bill to the full Assembly.

The four Republicans on the committee either voted no or abstained.

Some Republicans like Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce of Morris County said they wanted to hear more about the plan and would keep an open mind when it reaches the floor.

An obvious problem here is that few people truly understand insurance, and what’s more, many don’t even care.

Still, even the Democrats who voted to release the bill were not taking any victory laps.

Collectively, they admitted concerns about transparency, the uncertainty of the health care market and even instinctual skepticism about the insurance industry.

But then we got back around to trust.

Assemblywoman Lisa Swain of Bergen County said she trusts that the state Attorney General and the state Department of Banking and Industry will make sure Horizon does what it is supposed to do.

This hearing was spread over three days and there was much debate, although just about all of it polite. It is tough to get emotional about insurance.

However, McKeon, the committee chair, said he took “umbrage” at some comments that the bill was being rushed.

Not so. He said the bill has been worked on for more than a year.