Focusing on the fact that October is breast cancer awareness month, Governor Jon Corzine and Mayor Cory Booker today hosted a run through Newark and discussed the high stakes of the November election for New Jersey families.
"Over the past four years, I have fought for New Jersey families," Corzine said. "While I have worked to expand healthcare to cover more kids and passed the paid family leave law to ensure workers get paid while caring for sick relatives or newborns, Chris Christie would give free-rein to the big insurance companies to drop coverage for critical procedures like mammograms. The insurance companies don't need a governor, New Jersey families do."
Corzine has fought to make health care more accessible and affordable for New Jerseyans. He established universal access to care for all children, fighting the Bush Administration's attempts to undermine New Jersey's successful FamilyCare program. Because of Governor Corzine's leadership, the number of people in New Jersey without health insurance decreased by 11%, the 2nd best performance in the nation.
"Governor Corzine is the right man for the people of Newark and the state of New Jersey," Mayor Booker said. "He has worked every day to get health care coverage for more children, passed paid family leave legislation that allows workers to care for their loved ones, and helped ensure that women in New Jersey have access to the full range of healthcare services. He has made, and will continue to make, the right choices when it matters most."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Christie has repeatedly said he would give free rein to insurance companies to drop coverage for critical procedures like mammograms and autism screenings, which Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University Director Joel Cantor said would lead to a "repeal of the mandates", like those for mammograms. [http://christiefornj.com/issues/affordable-health-insurance.html]
The big health insurance companies helped raise more than $100,000 for Christie's campaign and he pledged to give them a $100 million tax break by eliminating the "assessment tax," which funds hospital charity care. [Chris Christie, 2/26/09, christiefornj.com; NJ Legislation A-4716, 2007]