Senator Robert Singer and Assemblymen Sean Kean and Edward Thomson expressed their frustration after Nemours Children’s Health announced it will no longer accept most new patients enrolled in New Jersey’s Medicaid managed care insurance program.

District 30 lawmakers expressed their frustration after Nemours Children’s Health announced it will no longer accept most new patients enrolled in New Jersey’s Medicaid managed care insurance program. (Pixabay)

“It is deeply frustrating that Nemours has not made a commitment to remain in New Jersey’s Medicaid network even after securing $20 million in additional funding for the fiscal year,” said Sen. Singer. “Parents of children with special medical needs rely on the services provided at Nemours Children’s Hospitals to treat complex conditions. For parents to find out that their children will be phased out of this necessary care and forced to find a new team of doctors is disturbing.”

Nemours Children’s Health is an in-network provider for families insured under NJ FamilyCare, but the group announced they will stop accepting most new kids on Medicaid from New Jersey—a decision that will impact 11,000 children from South Jersey. Nemours will also decline a $10 million state grant that lawmakers had hoped would convince the pediatric hospital to stay in-network.

“The Legislature worked hard to secure funding for Nemours Children’s Health because we didn’t want to see thousands of children phased out of care,” said Asm. Kean. “We recognize the uncertainty that parents are feeling right now about the future of their children’s healthcare. The lack of commitment from Nemours to continue providing care to children with special medical needs is upsetting.”

Senator Singer and Assemblymen Kean and Thomson echoed the sentiment of colleague Assemblyman Herb Conway Jr. and said that the Legislature allocated this money to Nemours Children’s Health so that they could remain in-network and avoid this issue all together.

“Thousands of families depend on Nemours to provide life-sustaining treatments for their children,” said Asm. Thomson. “They will be doing a major disservice to these families by phasing out their care. We cannot let children who are in desperate need of medical attention be forgotten.”