“The epidemic of addiction is incalculable, the numbers are indisputable,” Christie said during a signing ceremony shortly after the Assembly passed the measure 64-1 with five abstentions. “The person who’s in the throes of addiction … [and] realizes he or she needs help, they should not be blocked from the treatment center doors with their lives hanging in the balance.”
Several physicians, lawmakers and insurance company representatives, however, have said the legislation has significant flaws and could have been made better had not leaders of both parties, spurred on by Christie, rushed it through the Legislature. The measure was introduced on Jan. 30.
“The sponsors have no idea how much the bill is going to cost taxpayers and they have no idea how much the insurance mandate will increase the cost of health insurance in the state,” said Assemblyman Jay Webber, R-Morris, who was the sole lawmaker to vote against the bill. “A mandate like this will increase premiums and so we’re going to have fewer people with health insurance at all.”
In addition, several members of the medical community have been critical of the prescription limits imposed under the law, arguing that a one-size-fits-all approach inappropriately interferes with medical practice and disadvantages patients who already have limited access to healthcare.
