N.J. doctors least willing to accept Medicaid patients under Obamacare, By Susan K. Livio, March 31, 2015, Star-Ledger: “The Affordable Care Act has provided a path for 420,500 low-income New Jersey residents to gain insurance through the Medicaid program, but a new study says the state ranks last in the nation in doctors willing to treat them. Just 38.7 percent of New Jersey physicians said they accepted new Medicaid patients in 2013 — far below the national average of nearly 69 percent, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Jersey is the only state where fewer than half of the doctors accepted new Medicaid patients. California, at 54.2 percent is second-lowest in the nation…”
Tag: New Jersey
Long-Term Unemployment – New Jersey
N.J.’s long-term unemployed rate worse than 48 states, By Erin O’Neill, October 15, 2014, Star-Ledger: “Nearly half of jobless residents in New Jersey have been out of work for more than six months, according to a new report, a level that ranks the state among the worst in the country. The brief released today by New Jersey Policy Perspective notes the ‘long-term unemployment crisis is a national problem’ but found every other state except Florida fared better than New Jersey. Also, while the share of long-term unemployed in New Jersey has fallen from its peak in 2010, the brief found that drop has not been as sharp as it has nationally…”
State Minimum Wage Increases
- NJ’s minimum wage rising in January by 13 cents, By Michael Symons, September 30, 2014, Vineland Daily Journal: “New Jersey’s minimum wage will increase by 13 cents an hour, starting in January. The 1.59 percent increase, from $8.25 an hour to $8.38, is required under a constitutional amendment approved by 61 percent of voters last November that raised the mimimum wage by $1 and provided for automatic yearly increases to keep pace with inflation. It amounts to less than $20 a month for a minimum-wage worker putting in 35 hours a week, or almost $240 over the course of the year…”
- Minimum wage to rise to $8.10 for Ohio workers in 2015, up 15 cents, By Robert Higgs, September 30, 2014, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Ohio’s minimum wage will increase to $8.10 an hour for non-tipped employees beginning Jan. 1, an increase of 15 cents triggered by inflation. The current rate of $7.95 has been in effect since the beginning of this year…”
- Washington’s minimum wage going up again to $9.47, tops in the U.S., By Brad Shannon, September 30, 3014, Tacoma News Tribune: “Washington’s minimum wage will go up by 15 cents to $9.47 an hour, affecting more than 67,000 workers, the state Department of Labor and Industries announced Tuesday. That keeps the state rate highest in the country on a statewide basis, although some jurisdictions such as Seattle and SeaTac have adopted laws to set higher rates. Oregon’s rate, which is the second highest, goes up 15 cents to $9.25 next year, Labor & Industries said in a news release…”