Since the expiry of COVID-related healthcare safeguards, public coverage in New Jersey has dropped by nearly 500,000.
According to health policy research group the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) enrolment in New Jersey has fallen by 486,135, from over 2.2 million to under 1.8 million between March 2023 and October 2024.
Why It Matters
While seeing a less steep decline than states such as Florida and Texas , the 22 percent drop in enrolment is far ahead of the national average of 16 percent, raising questions about why fewer New Jerseyans were able to retain their coverage following the end of the pandemic-era protections.
The state’s disenrollment rate—the percentage of those who were disenrolled but unable to get their coverage renewed—of 39 percent is also toward the upper end, and ahead of the national average of 31 percent…