Insights & Commentary

As we have noted in prior blogs, hospital consolidation and concomitant price increases have important implications for healthcare affordability in New Jersey. In this blog, we delineate the scale and scope of hospital consolidation in New Jersey, including important aspects that cross state boundaries. The extent of consolidation has urgent public policy considerations.

Notably, healthcare challenges are greater here. New Jersey spends more per resident on healthcare than all but nine other states (and the District of Columbia). In our earlier blog, we observed that rising prices, especially by hospitals, are a major driver of New Jersey healthcare spending. Without state action, these costs will continue to rise rapidly. Below, we offer perspectives on Governor’s Sherrill’s approach to healthcare affordability, as reflected in her budget priorities, and make recommendations to strengthen this approach. There are two main tasks that we have outlined for the governor’s administration to consider.

Data helps state agencies and policymakers make informed decisions about the policies and practices that protect the health and safety of their communities. In New Jersey, the Integrated Population Health Data Project (iPHD) aims to improve the overall well-being of residents and the efficiency of state government by securely linking administrative datasets to support research.

In this post, we provide a look at New Jersey’s effort to integrate its data to support rigorous population health research that informs evidence-based policymaking, as well as share operational insights from the project’s implementation.

The recent 43-day federal government shutdown was driven most prominently by disagreements over healthcare affordability. The immediate impasse centered on expiring pandemic-era subsidies for health insurance in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Health Insurance Exchanges.

In 1992, political strategist James Carville famously said, “It’s the economy, stupid!” in reference to the messaging needed to get Bill Clinton elected. Carville’s admonition applied just as much to this year’s state and local elections. There is broad consensus that Mikie Sherrill and other Democrats swept the polls because they centered their campaigns on affordability.