Force can be defined as " effort made to push and pull an object"
In June 2018, Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order No. 31 creating the State Health
Benefits Quality and Value Task Force. The Executive Order noted that New Jersey’s state
government, local government, and school employees deserve health care coverage that delivers
quality health outcomes while being a good value for enrollees and taxpayers. The Governor
charged the Task Force with undertaking a comprehensive review of public employee and retiree
health benefits programs. The goal of the review is to identify strategies to achieve better health
outcomes and better management of the costs of employee and retiree health benefits.
The State Health Benefits Program (SHBP) and the School Employees’ Health Benefit Program
(SEHBP) provide health coverage to State employees, retirees and eligible dependents as well as
to employees, retirees and eligible dependents of local governments and school districts that have
elected to purchase coverage through the plans. Together, SHBP/SEHBP cover more than
800,000 lives. The total cost to the State and local participating employers is estimated to be
$6.9 billion in 2018. The State of New Jersey spends about 8.4 percent of its budget or about
$3.4 billion a year on these programs.
The Task Force is comprised of State leaders, academic experts, labor leaders, and employer
representatives (See Appendix A). It initially convened in July and has met regularly in the
intervening months. The Task Force has sought public input through its Web site, and hosted
three listening sessions with public employees, retirees and other stakeholders in Hamilton,
Rutherford, and Mount Laurel.
The Task Force is using this input to inform its larger charge of identifying long-term reforms of
the employee and retiree health benefits system. In the short-term, the Task Force has identified
a series of quickly actionable recommendations to improve the contracting and management of
SHBP/SEHBP. The State manages SHBP/SEHBP through a contractual relationship with a
third-party that is responsible for claims administration, provider network oversight, and other
administrative functions. These Task Force’s short-term recommendations focus on changes to
the SHBP/SEHBP third-party administrator (TPA) contract to: