New Jersey
New Jersey to forgive thousands of families’ medical debt. Here’s how to tell if you qualify.
![New Jersey to forgive thousands of families’ medical debt. Here’s how to tell if you qualify. New Jersey to forgive thousands of families’ medical debt. Here’s how to tell if you qualify.](https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2024/02/15/2aa205c1-bab4-411c-a4c5-20abfe66b195/thumbnail/1200x630/7ce5f93336b97a149498b36f9c9ebedb/ap24010040994848.jpg?v=fd6e213336f58b575c9e836e95546d26)
TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) — Thousands of New Jersey families can breathe a little easier after Gov. Phil Murphy announced his administration will eliminate some, if not all, of certain families’ medical debt.
Murphy’s administration will relieve 17,905 residents owing $61.6 million to Prime Healthcare hospitals as part of a collective effort between the state of New Jersey’s American Rescue Plan funds and Undue Medical Debt.
The state will also relieve 31,748 New Jersey residents owing more than $38.4 million to secondary debt market providers, including collections agencies.
Murphy said this is part of a major initiative to make health care more affordable and accessible for New Jerseyans.
“When someone is sick or injured, they should be able to focus on what matters most — getting better — rather than worrying about how they will pay for the life-saving care and services rendered to them. New Jerseyans should not have to scrimp and save to ensure their basic health care needs are met, or to pay down lofty medical debts resulting from tragic accidents or devastating diagnoses,” Murphy said.
Murphy’s announcement comes weeks after the Louisa Carman Medical Debt Relief Act was signed. The act protects New Jersey families from accruing medical debt against predatory medical debt collections and prohibits medical debt reporting to credit reporting agencies.
“Medical debt accumulates very quickly and can follow a person for decades,” Murphy said. “With this strategic investment and our partnership with Undue, we are wiping the slate clean for thousands of New Jersey families, eliminating their debt, and making a real, tangible impact on their lives.”
How will I know if my debt is getting relieved?
According to Gov. Phil Murphy’s announcement, those who qualify for medical debt relief are either four times or below the federal poverty level or have medical debts equivalent to 5% or more of their annual income.
There is no application process for this one-time medical debt abolishment.
Anyone benefitting from the medical debt relief will receive a letter from Undue Medical Debt in the mail starting the week of Aug. 19.
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New Jersey
An Uncommitted N.J. delegate at the DNC is pushing for peace in Gaza
![An Uncommitted N.J. delegate at the DNC is pushing for peace in Gaza An Uncommitted N.J. delegate at the DNC is pushing for peace in Gaza](https://whyy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/DNC-Gaza-protesters-2024-08-19.jpg)
What questions do you have about the 2024 elections? What major issues do you want candidates to address? Let us know.
The New Jersey delegation at the Democratic National Convention has already thrown their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. But there are a few Garden State Democrats who are showing up as uncommitted at the convention.
Their message to the Harris-Walz team: ceasefire in Gaza.
Hudson County, New Jersey resident Laura Keating is a first-time delegate. She said she decided to become a delegate because she is disillusioned with the civilian death toll in the war in Gaza and wanted to do something about it. Her platform was simple.
“On the ballot it read justice for Palestine, permanent ceasefire now,” she said.
Keating, whose only previous political experience was working for a change in the school board in Hoboken, is one of two uncommitted delegates representing the Garden State in Chicago this week.
“The goal of uncommitted is to keep Gaza on the table, don’t let anyone forget, I have hope I can see democracy really work,” she said.
New Jersey
When will hot summer temps return to N.J.? Latest forecast.
![When will hot summer temps return to N.J.? Latest forecast. When will hot summer temps return to N.J.? Latest forecast.](https://www.nj.com/resizer/v2/G2RAS5TZ2JHJZCGT6ALWOW3VSQ.jpg?auth=011c265545d9adc0b5615a2fec02a15d4495156f63bd85be3357877a726ae672&width=1280&quality=90)
Three straight days of cooler, dry conditions are ahead in New Jersey before temperatures return to more typical summer levels by Friday.
Highs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday will only climb into the 70s, temperatures more typical of late September or early October, the National Weather Service said.
New Jersey
New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez will resign from Senate after bribery convictions – WTOP News
![New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez will resign from Senate after bribery convictions – WTOP News New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez will resign from Senate after bribery convictions – WTOP News](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/wtop_logo_512x512.png)
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is slated to resign by the end of the day Tuesday,…
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez is slated to resign by the end of the day Tuesday, about a month after a jury convicted him on federal bribery charges.
Menendez signaled his resignation last month in a letter to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, who said Friday he’s tapping a former top aide to succeed the three-term incumbent.
George Helmy will succeed Menendez until the November election results for the Senate seat are certified late in the month, the governor said. At that point, Murphy said Helmy will resign and he’ll name the winner of the election to the seat.
The stakes in the Senate election are high, with Democrats holding on to a narrow majority. Republicans have not won a Senate election in Democratic-leaning New Jersey in over five decades.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim and Republican hotel developer Curtis Bashaw are facing off in the general election.
Helmy, 44, served as Murphy’s chief of staff from 2019 until 2023 and currently serves as an executive at one of the state’s largest health care providers, RWJBarnabas Health. He previously served as Sen. Cory Booker’s state director in the Senate.
Menendez, 70, was convicted on charges that he used his influence to meddle in three different state and federal criminal investigations to protect the businessmen. Prosecutors said he helped one bribe-paying friend get a multimillion-dollar deal with a Qatari investment fund and another keep a contract to provide religious certification for meat bound for Egypt.
He was also convicted of taking actions that benefited Egypt’s government in exchange for bribes, including providing details on personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and ghostwriting a letter to fellow senators regarding lifting a hold on military aid to Egypt. FBI agents also said they found stacks of gold bars and $480,000 hidden in Menendez’s house.
Menendez denied all of the allegations, and in in a letter to Murphy last month, he said he’s planning to appeal the conviction.
The resignation appears to mark the end of a nearly lifelong political career for Menendez, who was first elected to his local school board just a couple of years after his high school graduation. He was also elected to the state Legislature and Congress before heading to the Senate.
Menendez is the only U.S. senator indicted twice.
In 2015, he was charged with letting a wealthy Florida eye doctor buy his influence through luxury vacations and campaign contributions. After a jury couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict in 2017, New Jersey federal prosecutors dropped the case rather than put him on trial again.
He served as a Democrat in Congress but decided not to run in the primary this year as his court case was unfolding. He filed to run as an independent in the fall, though he withdrew his name from the ballot on Friday, according to a letter he sent to state election officials.
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