“While we are of course concerned and disappointed by Commissioner Elnahal’s decision to delay charity care and graduate medical education payments, New Jersey’s hospitals are committed to providing care to our state’s most vulnerable residents during their most vulnerable moments. We proudly stand behind New Jersey’s law, one of the only in the country that ensures stabilization and treatment – not just stabilization – of all patients regardless of ability to pay. Our members depend on charity care funding, which only covers an average of 42 percent of the cost of care, to maintain their ability to stabilize and treat all who walk through their doors.

New Jersey’s hospitals and residents also depend on graduate medical education funding to train the next generation of providers and mitigate the impending physician shortage. At a time when we are working to strengthen New Jersey’s position as a leader in equitable care, this seems like a step backwards.

We will continue to partner with the Administration to focus on the well-being of the most vulnerable New Jerseyans and to improve the health of all residents in our state, but we need to have their follow through on Governor Murphy’s commitment to “closing gaps in the access to care.””