Author: Eliz

Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday said he doesn’t want big health insurance premium increases for public workers to “become an annual event” and called a last-minute move to ease a bit of the pain for some of those workers “a fair deal.”

A New Jersey health board on Wednesday approved rate hikes for health plans that cover more than 800,000 public workers. The vote calls for boosts in premiums on state health plans by about 21%, and local government plans by nearly 24%.

After Wednesday’s vote by the State Health Benefits Commission, five labor unions issued a joint-statement saying they had reached an agreement with the Murphy administration that will limit the increase on state employee contributions to 3%, shifting the rest of the financial burden to the state.

As part of the compromise, state employee co-pays for specialists will double from $15 to $30 and co-pays for urgent care

Eight workers at the Port of Long Beach, a business owner and one of her employees were charged this week in federal court in connection with a scheme to fraudulently bill the dockworkers union’s health plan for sexual services and falsified physical therapy claims, prosecutors said.

All of the defendants except for one dockworker submitted plea agreements. The alleged ringleader, 46-year-old Sara Victoria of San Pedro, admitted in her plea agreement to owning three businesses between 2017 and 2021 that provided sexual services as well as chiropractic and acupuncture treatments.

Knowing that the health insurance is provided by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union – Pacific Maritime Assn. generally covered

New Jersey’s labor unions were undeterred by rain clouds over Trenton Tuesday as hundreds of government workers descended on the Statehouse in labor’s latest push to fend off massive rate hikes on health insurance premiums.

A coalition of at least 14 unions organized the rally after Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration signaled it would move forward with a vote Wednesday on proposed rate increases of more than 20% for state health plans.

A deep of union members filled the outside corridor of the Statehouse annex and spilled into West State Street, where crowds of off-duty police officers and firefighters gathered, listening to the handful of speakers lined up for the event.

“Governor Murphy, hear our call,” the crowd shouted, as chants echoed off the annex walls.

New Jersey state troopers blocked off a section of the roadway between Calhoun and Barrack streets, where a line of buses sat empty after

The State Health Benefits Commission on Wednesday approved rate increases of about 21% on state worker health plans and nearly 23% on local government benefits.

But a last-minute deal reached after the meeting could ease a bit of the pain for some public workers.

The new rates will affect the health plans that cover more than 800,000 state and local government workers, and it could have financial implications for millions of New Jersey taxpayers.

After Wednesday’s vote, five labor unions issued a joint-statement saying they had reached an agreement with Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration that will limit the increase on state employee contributions to 3%, shifting the rest of the financial burden to the state.

As part of the compromise, union leaders said they agreed to double co-pays for specialists from $15 to $30 and increase co-pays for urgent care from $15 to $45.

The agreement only applies to plans

Workers at the Gardens for Memory Care at Easton continued to strike Wednesday, saying they can’t afford a proposed change to their current health plan coverage.

At 10:30 am, about 20 employees wearing the purple shirts of their SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania union took to the grounds outside the medical facility, 500 Washington St., for a news conference on the picket line. The group carried signs that read, “We Say No To Corporate Greed,” “Honk 4 Workers” and “Union Strong.” They chanted, “They say cut back, we say fight back.” Passing motorists yelled out words of encouragement from open windows and honked.

The workers with SEIU, or Service Employees International Union, began striking this past Friday at 14 statewide facilities, including the Easton facility. They walked off the job after at least 11 bargaining sessions, the Gardens for Memory Care at Easton administration previously said in a statement.

The union group