Kean Says Murphy Should Consider All Opportunities to Reduce Health Benefit Costs

Urges Administration to Support “Platinum-to-Gold” Reforms

Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean said Governor Phil Murphy can build upon the modest healthcare savings he announced today by supporting “platinum-to-gold” reforms proposed by the Legislature.

“We are encouraged by the modest savings on health benefits announced by Governor Murphy today and encourage him to look at opportunities for even larger savings, like a shift from platinum-to-gold that has bipartisan support in the Legislature,” said Kean.

It has been estimated that shifting public employees from platinum-level to gold-level healthcare plans, as defined by the Affordable Care Act, would save State and local governments more than $1 billion annually.

The shift from platinum-to-gold was one of the chief cost-saving recommendations issued last month by the Legislature’s bipartisan Economic & Fiscal Policy Workgroup.

Legislation that would achieve the shift has long been sponsored by Senator Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth).

“Taxpayers deserve to know that every opportunity to achieve savings on the massive cost of public employee health benefits is being investigated,” added Kean. “They deserve to know where the Governor stands on platinum-to-gold, which would produce the greatest savings for taxpayers of any proposed health benefit reform.”