TRENTON - Too many New Jerseyans already feel the consequences of out-of-reach healthcare as they face the disastrous Jan. 2027 impact of President Donald Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" on Medicaid, NJ Commissioner of Health Raynard Washington this morning told the Senate Health Committee.

"The president's signature legislation will put care further out of reach for many residents," Washington testified.  "Hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans can lose healthcare coverage." They will also experience longer term impacts, he noted. "When healthcare becomes unaffordable... cancers are detected too late to be managed."

Stephen Cha, commissioner of human services, said as many as 300,000 New Jerseyans could lose healthcare in the new year. Best case scenario, he added, about 120K people could lose healthcare coverage. The state stands to lose between $1.5 billion to $3 billion in public healthcare funding. On Oct, 1, lawfully present noncitizens, including refugees, lost eligibility for Medicaid.

Governor Mikie Sherrill already began taking counter measures to meet the healthcare crisis impact of January 1, but Senate Health Committee Chair Joe Vitale (D) said he convened today's hearing to ensure the state implements the best structures to help vulnerable New Jerseyans.

"People's lives are stressed enough," said Vitale. "Now they have to worry about what happens if people get sick.

"I never thought I would live in a country where people live in fear of going to get food to eat or who are trying to go to the doctor," the chairman later added, in specific reference to New Jersey's refugee population.

Senator Holly Schepisi (R) sounded a note of skepticism, wondering why Sherrill and lawmakers would pass a budget with supplementals in the hundreds of millions of dollars if they were so concerned about the impact of Trump's HR-1.

She cited money to Jersey City.

"What happens to the rest of the budget is not my business," said Cha.

"But it is my business," Schepisi said.

Senator Owen Henry (R) doubled down on that point.

"The money's here," he said. "We all have eyes and we see where the money is being spent. The priorities are not for healthcare." He told the commissioners: "We could give you the money to help the people who need healthcare. We have to be proactive not reactive all the time. We know we can do better."

"We have the resources to respond to the cuts," affirmed Vitale. "I would be happy to provide more money into the budget for healthcare. I don't know if more money in the system will do anything to push back. We're losing lots of money. The cuts are going to be foisted upon us and people are going to lose healthcare. It's not as much about the money as barriers put in place by the federal government to have [fewer] people covered and receiving their food."