Maplewood officials say they will use every lever at their disposal to try to help residents who are experiencing skyrocketing premiums due to the loss of subsidies for Affordable Care Act, or ACA, health insurance programs.
Although the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed a bill to resurrect health care subsidies that expired last year, it’s uncertain if the Senate will also do so — or do so in numbers that could override a Presidential veto.
Meanwhile, many Maplewood residents who are on the ACA health care exchanges are seeing their monthly premiums double or nearly triple.
Diane Davis, a Broadway actor and voiceover artist, caught the attention of local leaders when she posted on Facebook in November that her family’s premium was rising from $777 to $2,221 per month as of January 1.
As an actor, Davis is incorporated as a small business owner, supporting a network of vendors and fees, from managers to union dues. Because she has several projects in development and is not currently appearing in a show, her health insurance through her union ran out last July.
Additionally, Davis noted “my industry’s going through huge, huge growing pains, as a lot of industries are with AI and non-unionization that has started to happen with voiceovers.” Davis has taken other side jobs to supplement income.
She and her husband, Maplewood residents since 2014, have three children ages 8, 11 and 14.
“I feel in crisis right now,” said Davis in an interview. “Since we got that letter — I opened it after Thanksgiving — and I was like, I don’t know how we’re going to do this. This expense with all the out-of-pocket costs would be about 30% of our take home.”
Davis said she looked at a high deductible plan with an HSA (Health Savings Account), but “the high deductible plans are $1,700 a month.” Davis said a broker has recommended putting more take-home pay into an IRA to qualify for more subsidies.
Meanwhile, Davis reports that friends who are seeing similar increases are planning to go without health insurance because “it’s less expensive to pay out of pocket.”
“It’s people who are paying their taxes, who are working three jobs, who are raising children,” said Davis.
“I am a lucky and blessed person, but this is an economic hardship, a crisis for my family at this time. And I can’t even imagine for people who have less. It breaks my heart. I wish we took care of each other.”
“I think a lot of people on this dais have corporate health insurance and I don’t think you realize how hard it is,” said former Maplewood Board of Health President Deb Engel to her Township Committee/Board of Health colleagues in December. “I’ve been on the marketplace since 2015, and it’s really hard right now. I just want to make sure that we’re aware of it and thinking about it, and thinking about ways that we can be helping our community.”
In response, then-Mayor Nancy Adams suggested that the health department replicate its efforts for filling food needs for families who lost SNAP benefits.
“We stepped up in conjunction with the South Orange-Maplewood School District when the SNAP benefits were cut, when the government shut down,” said Adams. “And I think maybe we need to look at health screenings and vaccinations to the extent that we can make those available in some way. To step up for yet another gap under the Trump administration that we’re experiencing.”
“The drastic policy changes and funding reductions coming out of Washington made 2025 very challenging. This year will be equally difficult,” said Mayor Vic De Luca after taking office on January 1. “The refusal by the President and Congressional leaders to extend credits for the Affordable Care Act premiums will affect nearly a half million people in our state, including many in Maplewood. ACA premiums are dramatically going up, some increases as high as 175%, and coverage options are being reduced. These actions are forcing many individuals and families to give up their health insurance. And to make matters worse, another 350,000 people in New Jersey will lose Medicaid coverage because of federal budget cuts.”
De Luca said that Township officials would “monitor the impact of these cutbacks on our residents and adjust our programs and services. At the same time, the Township Committee will speak out and do what it can to reverse these policy decisions so that health care becomes a right and not a privilege.”
At the January 6 Township Committee meeting, Township Committee member Dean Dafis said that public health would be one of his major focuses this year as he takes over as the new Maplewood Board of Health President.
“We will continue centering public health in everything that we do, because public health intersects all of the issues that we talk about. And I look forward to working with our Health Officer [Candice Davenport] and her incredible team in expanding our public health footprint in our community, in the region — and our social services support which will become more and more important as more and more of our working families in the community are squeezed in health care, in housing affordability and other stresses that everyone is experiencing right now.”
