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FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2004

NATIONAL REPORT PRAISES NEW JERSEY FOR

COMMITMENT TO CHILDREN’S HEALTH

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 30, 2004) – An assessment of health care in the 50 states, released here today, praises New Jersey for its commitment to children’s health. The report appears in the February 2004 issue of Governing magazine.

“While we know New Jersey has cut back on its coverage of parents, it is one of the states that stands out for covering children through public health insurance. A lot of other states have pulled back,” said Katherine Barrett, co-author of the report. “Covering children is relatively inexpensive and getting children preventive care makes good long-term sense.”

Barrett noted that New Jersey, which has had very low reimbursement rates, has had a problem in getting doctors to take Medicaid patients, particularly those who are not in the managed care system. The state recently raised the rates paid to doctors who get fees for services rendered. “Officials are hoping that will help bring more physicians back into the system,” Barrett added.

Governing’s analysis of state-funded health care is part of the Government Performance Project, a six-year-old effort, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, to evaluate a wide range of state government management and policy functions. This year’s special report focuses on six critical health care problems facing states: long-term care, public health, mental health, prescription drugs, access to care for the uninsured, and care for children.

The Government Performance Project found and documented the inability of the 50 states’ healthcare system to deliver improvements in medicine fairly and consistently to many of their citizens. Health care in most states is not just inadequate, the study concluded -- it’s deteriorating. “After exhaustive analysis and hundreds of interviews,” says Peter Harkness, Governing’s publisher and editor, “it became clear that there is a health care crisis in America. But it is in no way a medical crisis. It is a fiscal crisis.”

Governing is a policy and management magazine aimed at high-level state and local government officials. An online version of this report will be available at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/intro.htm as of January 29. Press releases for each of the 50 states can be found at http://www.governing.com/gpp/2004/press.htm.

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