Trenton, NJ – In response to Governor Murphy signing into law legislation that protects certain parts of Obamacare and creates a state mandate on health insurance, NJGOP Chairman Steinhardt released the following statement:

“This mandate is more bad news for some of New Jersey’s most vulnerable residents,” Chairman Steinhardt said. “It levies a penalty that falls mostly on New Jersey’s low-income families and millennials. Proving once again that no demographic is safe from the Governor’s ultra-liberal agenda, we should be looking out for the State’s most vulnerable, not mandating policies that force them to shoulder additional burdens.”

Reports estimate that penalties from this new policy will net the State between $90 million and $100 million. In a State where we’re at the bottom of nearly every good list and the top of every bad one, experts point out that New Jersey already has one of the most stable healthcare markets in the country and was one of only two markets in the country to gain a new Obamacare insurer in 2018.

Chairman Steinhardt added, “This is just another example of government inserting itself where it doesn’t belong and fixing a problem that doesn’t exist. It begs the question, why? With an already stable market, this looks like nothing more than a back-door money grab to fund the Governor’s bloated, liberal budget.”

“New Jersey needs leaders in both political parties to buckle down, and solve real issues. Just two days ago Monmouth University released a poll that showed our state’s highest-in-the-nation property tax burden has remained the top concern for residents for almost a decade. Instead of addressing the State’s largest single concern, this mandate just compounds it.”