On Friday July 21, Governor Christie took action on the following Healthcare bills:
Signed into law
S-291 / A-1464 (Vitale / Whelan) – Authorizes healthcare providers to engage in telemedicine and telehealth.
NJBIA supported this legislation because it recognizes the impact of modern technology on the provision of healthcare services by establishing a framework for the responsible use of telehealth and telemedicine services as an efficient and cost-effective way to treat residents of New Jersey. Telemedicine will increase access to healthcare and reduce the need for expensive emergency room visits that occur after regular office hours. Our testimony can be found here.
S-359 / A-2320 (Codey / Vitale) – Raises minimum age for purchase and sale of tobacco products and electronic smoking devices from 19 to 21.
NJBIA opposed this legislation because it keeps New Jersey law inconsistent with federal law, which currently sets the national minimum age to purchase tobacco products at 18.
Conditional Veto
A-2297 / S-659 (Huttle / Spencer) – Requires health insurance coverage for contraceptives to include prescriptions for 12 months.
NJBIA opposed this legislation because it has not been reviewed by the Mandated Health Benefits Advisory Commission so there is no analysis of the financial impact on healthcare costs. Our testimony can be found here.
The conditional veto message can be found here.
The complete list of bills that were acted on can be found here.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mary
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