>by Susan K. Livio/The Star-Ledger
Sunday August 23, 2009, 7:43 AM
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/christie_and_corzine_battle_ov.html
In the midst of their protracted fight over political corruption and allegations of ethical misdeeds, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine and Republican contender Chris Christie are having another heated battle — this time on health policy.
While the issue seems one for the wonks, it’s prompted a nasty volley of charges
Through news conferences and testimonials from breast cancer survivors, Corzine’s supporters say Christie is indifferent to women’s health issues because he proposed a low-cost insurance plan that excludes any legally mandated health benefits. Such a plan, Corzine’s allies forcefully say, would undo a law enacted five years ago that requires insurers to cover mammograms for women under 40 with a family history of breast cancer.
Flatly calling Corzine “a liar,” Christie posted an emotional video on his website revealing how a mammogram detected a cancerous tumor and saved his mother’s life 30 years ago.
“I am not the anti-mammogram candidate. Anybody who would suggest that is just a reprehensible human being,” Christie said Monday while campaigning in Westwood. “Because I want to offer people other options that they knowingly can either pursue or not pursue, that does make me “anti’ any of the mandates that are covered under the insurance policies now.”
Beneath the loud talk lies an issue that clearly defines differences between the two candidates, said Montclair University political science professor Brigid Harrison.
“One person advocates for a mandate-free insurance system and one doesn’t,” Harrison said.
Zeroing in on mammogram coverage among the dozens of insurance requirements in state-regulated health plans “enables Corzine to remind women voters, who tend to lean Democrat anyway, there is a difference between him and Christie,” Harrison said.
Unfortunately, she added, it didn’t take long for the discourse on this substantive issue to “degenerate into base politics.”
The debate started when Christie proposed ways to slow the soaring cost of health insurance — such as allowing insurers to offer a bare-bones policy stripped of health screenings and other mandated benefits, to appeal to “young people” who “may not need the chance to have every type of procedure that’s available in the medical world,” Christie said in a video posted on his website.
Corzine and his supporters viewed his comments as trivializing lifesaving screenings that state law requires insurance companies to provide, such as mammograms. The attacks quickly escalated.
“It is unconscionable Chris Christie wants to line the pockets of New Jersey health care insurers at the expense of the health care of millions of New Jersey women,” said Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer), accompanied by a three-time breast cancer survivor at the Statehouse.
Assembly Health Committee Chairman Herb Conaway (D-Burlington), a physician, said Christie’s plan would give “insurance companies free rein to drop coverage for mammograms, minimum maternity stays and even coverage of critical therapy and treatment for autism.”
Corzine issued a statement saying it would end coverage of 24-hour maternity stays, a law sponsored by his running mate, Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen). Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Assemblyman John Burzichelli (D-Gloucester) keyed in on coverage for autism treatments.
Christie’s running mate, Kim Guadagno, hit back, hosting a teleconference with Assemblywomen Dawn Marie Addiego (R-Burlington) and Caroline Casagrande (R-Monmouth) saying they were offended by the Democrats’ charges.
Christie said “crass politics” has distorted an idea worthy of public discussion.
“I am trying to get people to say if they want less expensive coverage that has less mandates, they should have the option to pick it. No one is going to be required to do it. It’s going to be an option,” Christie said last week.
The state’s mandates for mammograms and other health coverage actually don’t affect most people. About two-thirds of those with health insurance in New Jersey are covered by self-insured and federally regulated plans that do not have to comply with state mandates, said Marshall McKnight, spokesman for the state Department of Banking and Insurance.
The value and cost of insurance mandates has been debated for a long time. With 45 mandates, New Jersey is tied for 13th most in the nation, according to a Council for Affordable Health Insurance report. Rhode Island ranks first with 70 mandates; Idaho is last with 13.
Mammogram coverage, provided by all 50 states, raises premiums less than 1 percent, the report said. But it added: “It is the accumulated impact of dozens of mandates, not just one, that makes health coverage unaffordable.”
Having bare-bones health coverage for the young and healthy also has a down side, said Joel Cantor, director for the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University.
While “offering a low-cost option is good for people who don’t want to pay,” Cantor said, allowing these healthy people to leave other health plans would drive up the premiums for those who remain in them. He added that money can be saved by providing screenings that can detect diseases like breast cancer, rather than treating them later.
Quinnipiac University political scientist Maurice Carroll said he doesn’t know who is right but welcomes a “legitimate” issue debate to a race marked by character attacks.
“It’s an honest-to-God issue. That’s a good thing,” he said.
Staff writer Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/08/christie_and_corzine_battle_ov.html
