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Essex commissioners vote Wednesday on leaving the State Health Benefits Plan. No cost study or replacement plan is posted
Ahead of the vote: nothing in this report has been adopted. Jersey Intel will report the outcome from the county’s official record.
Update, Oct. 21, 4:11 p.m.: In response to Jersey Intel’s Open Public Records Act request #18061, the Essex County, N.J., Board of County Commissioners’ office released Ordinance O-2026-00013 and its Oct. 2 backup memo from County Risk Manager Frank J. Del Gaudio to County Administrator Robert D. Jackson. The ordinance says the county “desires to self-fund a health insurance benefits program effective January 1, 2027,” for its active and retired employees.
The memo’s “Fiscal Impact” section gives no dollar figure. Neither record includes any cost, savings or actuarial figure, or names a broker or claims administrator. On funding, the ordinance says only that the governing body “shall appropriate such funds as are necessary and appropriate and as established by statute.”
The office said it had no records responsive to Jersey Intel’s requests for an actuarial analysis, feasibility study or cost comparison; the county’s health benefits broker contract; or requests for proposals for a third-party administrator or stop-loss insurance. It said some of the records may be held by the county’s Accounts & Control and/or Purchasing offices. Jersey Intel filed records requests with both offices on Oct. 21 (#18158 and #18159); responses are due Oct. 30.
County response: After Jersey Intel’s noon deadline, county Public Information Director Anthony Puglisi referred our questions to County Administrator Robert D. Jackson. No answers had been received as of 4:11 p.m. The ordinance has not been adopted; the commissioners’ hearing and vote are scheduled for 5 p.m. today.
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, the Essex County Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to vote on leaving the State Health Benefits Plan. The move would affect the county’s active employees and its retirees. Essex would instead pay its own health claims starting Jan. 1, 2027. The posted agenda, the ordinance and the county’s own backup memo do not include a cost study or name the companies that would run the new plan.
Image: Jersey Intel infographic. Photo: Essex County Hall of Records, Ajay Suresh / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
- What we know: Resolution K-1 would end the county’s participation in the State Health Benefits Plan for active and retired employees on Jan. 1, 2027. Ordinance O-2026-00013, up for a public hearing and final vote, would let the county self-fund health benefits.
- Why it matters: A self-funded plan puts the cost of large claims on the county budget. The “fiscal impact” section of the county’s backup memo lists no dollar figure.
- What’s next: The commissioners meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday in the Hall of Records, Room 506, Newark. The ordinance hearing is open to public comment.
What’s on the agenda
Two items on the Oct. 21 agenda would make the switch:
- K-1: a Department of Administration and Finance resolution “authorizing the County of Essex to terminate participation of active and retired employees in the State Health Benefits Plan effective January 1, 2027.”
- J-3, Ordinance O-2026-00013: up for second reading and a public hearing. It amends the county’s 1993 insurance-fund ordinance (O-93-0001) to add “self funded (or partially self-funded) health benefits to County employees, their dependents, or both” under N.J.S.A. 40A:10-6. The ordinance says the county “currently participates in the State of New Jersey Health Insurance Benefits Program ‘State Plan’ for health benefits for both active employees and retired County employees” and “desires to self-fund a health insurance benefits program effective January 1, 2027.”
The County Executive proposed the ordinance, sending it through the Office of the County Administrator. Its only funding language says the governing body “shall appropriate such funds as are necessary and appropriate.”
What the documents do not show
A Jersey Intel review found nothing in the posted Oct. 21 agenda or the ordinance about how much self-funding would cost. Neither identifies a third-party claims administrator, a stop-loss insurer, a pharmacy-benefit manager or the plan designs workers and retirees would get. No resolution awarding any of those contracts appears on the agenda.
The county’s backup memo for the ordinance, dated Oct. 2 and sent from County Risk Manager Frank J. Del Gaudio to County Administrator Robert D. Jackson through County Counsel Jerome M. St. John, includes a “Fiscal Impact” section. It gives no dollar amount. It says the impact “would be to provide protection of the County’s assets involving all insured health benefits claims and the monitoring and supervision of the self-funded health insurance program.”
When the ordinance was introduced on Oct. 7, St. John told commissioners that the county would present the proposed health-insurance funding program, including its terms and conditions, to them at a later date, according to the county’s meeting video. That night the board also hired the law firm Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi as outside counsel on “health benefit plans” for county employees and retirees. That contract (item K-22, resolution R-2026-01034) runs from Sept. 18 through Dec. 31, 2026, and is capped at $40,000.
Our records request
Jersey Intel asked the county under the Open Public Records Act on Oct. 8 for any actuarial analysis, feasibility study or cost comparison on a self-funded plan, the county’s health benefits broker contract, and any request for proposals for a claims administrator, stop-loss insurance, a pharmacy-benefit manager or broker services. The Board of Commissioners’ office answered on Oct. 20 that it had no responsive records for those items, and released the ordinance. On Oct. 21 it said those were the only responsive records in its possession and that some of the records may be held by the county’s Accounts & Control or Purchasing offices.
The first vote
The ordinance passed on first reading Oct. 7. Vice President A’Dorian Murray-Thomas moved it and Commissioner Robert Mercado seconded it. Commissioners Brendan W. Gill, Leonard M. Luciano, Mercado, Murray-Thomas, Patricia Sebold and board President Carlos M. Pomares voted yes. Commissioners Tyshammie L. Cooper, Wayne L. Richardson and Romaine Sermons were absent.
Why it matters
The state’s local-government health plan is under pressure. In July, the plans’ actuary, Aon, recommended 2027 premium increases of 17.3% for active local workers, 36.5% for early retirees and 19.3% for Medicare retirees, the New Jersey Monitor reported. The Monitor also reported that the local plan’s headcount fell by 25% going into 2026 as employers left. That leaves a smaller, riskier pool for those that stay.
Leaving the plan can cut costs, but it also moves the risk of large claims onto the county budget. Jersey Intel has reported that Trenton, which is out of the State Health Benefits Plan, told the state Local Finance Board its health costs reached $73 million and sought an $18 million cap waiver.
Questions the documents raise
- What savings does the county project, and has any actuarial or cost study been done? Will it be made public before the vote?
- Who will administer claims, and who will provide stop-loss coverage? How were or will those firms be chosen?
- Will retirees keep the same benefits? What happens to Medicare-eligible retirees?
- Have the unions representing county workers been consulted?
- What reserves will the county set aside for high-cost claims?
The response
Jersey Intel emailed these questions on Tuesday, Oct. 20, to County Administrator Robert D. Jackson, with copies to Public Information Director Anthony Puglisi, County Counsel Jerome M. St. John and Deputy Clerk of the Board Kathy Brown. Jersey Intel also asked all nine commissioners for comment. None of them had responded by the noon Wednesday deadline. After the deadline, Puglisi referred the questions to Jackson; no answers had been received as of 4:11 p.m. Wednesday. This story will be updated with any response.
Attend, record or send documents
The commissioners meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21, in the Hall of Records, Room 506, 465 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Newark. The ordinance hearing is open to public comment, and the county livestreams its meetings on YouTube. If you work for or retired from Essex County and have received notice about your coverage, or have any cost study or vendor proposal, email jerseyintel@gmail.com.
