As many as 800 teachers and school employees in Newark and Paterson were without health insurance for four months because of a paperwork problem at the state level.
The problem primarily affected staff rehired this summer following last spring’s cuts in education budgets, though it also touched new hires and teachers trying to add dependents to their policies
Six-hundred Paterson Public Schools employees got back on the state’s health insurance rolls this week. Up to 200 Newark teachers and staff have not been as lucky and are still without coverage.
A spokesman for the Treasury Department said the state health benefits commission is aware of the problem, but he is not sure how many public school employees are affected. The insurance problem could affect teachers throughout the state who were laid off and then rehired by their districts before the start of the school year.
"The state health benefits commission is making every effort to process them quicker and put them on the front burner, now that they know this is happening," said Treasury spokesman Andy Pratt. "Now they realize this is something they can expedite and will expedite."
Speaking specifically about Newark, Pratt said the problem cropped up in part because the district failed to send health insurance applications to the state grouped together. Because applications trickled in one by one, the commission did not realize the volume of teachers being re-enrolled in the state’s health insurance plan.
Or maybe the state just didn't give a shit about the insurance problem because Governor Christie doesn't much give a shit about the insurance problem?
I wonder if the sociopath who owns Facebook will send a few stock options the way of the teachers so they can, you know, take their kids to the doctor if they get sick?
Let me answer that question myself.
Probably not - not unless they agree to give up tenure and allow Cory Booker to run everything.
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