Update for CWA State Executive Branch and Judiciary Members July 22, 2022

As many of you have likely seen in the news, the NJ State Health Benefits Commission recently received a preliminary recommendation to increase premiums for state and local government health benefits plans by approximately 21% starting in 2023. These are preliminary recommendations, no final rates have been set yet. The recommendations and the data on which they are based are under close review now.

The proposed increases would take effect in the 2023 plan year, after open enrollment. To be clear, these potential increases are still preliminary recommendations and have not been finalized.

Obviously, this is a huge increase in premiums that would affect both member contributions and employer costs. In part, the recommended increase is based on COVID, deferred services and increased utilization, inflation costs and other factors.

CWA is deeply engaged on this, and as always will continue to aggressively advocate for our members. Under the terms of our state executive branch contract, we reserve the right to open negotiations based on premium increases. The state executive branch negotiations on healthcare usually set a broader pattern adopted within the plan for local government and judiciary. These proposed premium increases would affect all public sector members in the SHBP and the Union is keeping all those groups in mind as we deal with this problem in the coming weeks.  

We are in the process of analyzing all health care data and determining how we fight back against these proposed premium increases. We will do everything possible to combat these proposed increases.

We will share more information directly with members in upcoming meetings. Please make sure your Shop Stewards have your current work and personal contact information and add upcoming membership/worksite meetings to your calendar.

In Unity,

CWA LOCAL 1036