On Thursday, the State Health Benefits Commission (SHBC) held its regularly scheduled November meeting. During the Division Update, there were two items of note:
- Of the more than 130,000 members in the State, Local, and School Employees covered by the plans administered by the state, 6,761 migrated to a new plan. The vast majority of those stayed with their current carrier. Only 1,041 selected a plan with a new carrier.
- Since the Governor signed legislation to permit the Division of Pensions to loan funds from the State Employee Fund to the Local Government Insurance Fund on November 1, the Division of Pensions has made two transfers – one for $30 million, and the other for $18 million. $10 million has been repaid. During the report, it was noted that each fund was self-funded and should have enough to pay claims within 120 days. In 2025, the Local Government Plan includes another 2% increase for the Claim Stabilization Reserve as part of the 16% premium increase.
This is the last scheduled SHBC meeting for 2024.
Contact: Paul Penna, Senior Legislative Analyst, ppenna@njlm.org, 609-695-3481, x110.