District 30 Legislators Express Frustration Over Nemours Lack of Commitment

Senator Robert Singer and Assemblymen Sean Kean and Edward Thomson expressed their frustration after Nemours Children’s Health provided no guarantee that it will remain in the state’s Medicaid network despite receiving $20 million in new funding.

“It is deeply frustrating that Nemours has not made a commitment to remain in New Jersey’s Medicaid network even after securing $20 million in additional funding for the fiscal year,” said Sen. Singer. “Parents of children with special medical needs rely on the services provided at Nemours Children’s Hospitals to treat complex conditions. For parents to find out that their children may be phased out of this necessary care and forced to find a new team of doctors is disturbing.”

Nemours Children’s Health is an in-network provider for families insured under NJ FamilyCare, but the group has not indicated whether they intend to remain in-network for the nearly 11,000 children they provide care to in New Jersey. New Jersey earmarked $20 million dollars in funding for Nemours Children’s Health in the record $54.3 billion budget signed into law for the 2024 fiscal year.

“The Legislature worked hard to secure funding for Nemours Children’s Health because we didn’t want to see thousands of children phased out of care,” said Asm. Kean. “We recognize the uncertainty that parents are feeling right now about the future of their children’s healthcare. The lack of commitment from Nemours to continue providing care to children with special medical needs is upsetting. We hope they do the right thing and stay in-network for New Jersey families.”

Senator Singer and Assemblymen Kean and Thomson echoed the sentiment of colleague Assemblyman Herb Conway Jr. and said that the Legislature allocated this money to Nemours Children’s Health so that they could remain in-network and avoid this issue all together.

“If the Legislature thought that Nemours was going to take the money and run we wouldn’t have advocated for them to get more funding,” said Asm. Thomson. “Thousands of families depend on Nemours to provide life-sustaining treatments for their children. They will be doing a major disservice to these families by phasing out their care. We cannot let children who are in desperate need of medical attention be forgotten.”