New Jersey Governor, Phil Murphy signed into law a bill establishing a state-based health care marketplace. The state of New Jersey has been part of the federal marketplace since the Affordable Care Act was established back in 2013.

Murphy signed the legislation on Friday in a private ceremony. Under current law, New Jersey uses a federal exchange, or marketplace, letting people shop for and enroll in coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The new law establishes the state’s own exchange. Murphy, a Democrat, said the law also gives the state more control over open enrollment as well as giving the state access to data that it can use to regulate the market.

Becoming a state-based exchange will allow the state of New Jersey to determine the time-frame for Open Enrollment among other things. This should be good news for the residents since they should have more time to enroll into these Qualified Health Plans. He says it was necessary to protect against Trump administration “sabotage” of the law also known as Obamacare. Lawmakers estimate participation in Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act increased by 36 percent or nearly 500,000 people over nearly four years. The state of Pennsylvania also declared that they too would become a state-based exchange, so it seems that more and more states are becoming independent of the federal marketplace.

https://pix11.com/2019/06/28/new-jersey-establishes-state-health-exchange-under-new-law/