New Jersey legislators approve expanded health care

TRENTON, N.J. Residents of New Jersey may soon get expanded health-care coverage under legislation introduced in the state legislature Thursday.

The Senate and Assembly Budget Committees have approved a bill introduced by Democratic state Sen. Joseph Vitale that would expand the FamilyCare program to 20,000 more parents. The program was opened to parents in 2002.

Louis Greenwald, a Democratic member of the Assembly, the state’s lower house, estimated that expanding the program would cost slightly less than $9 million, according to the Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger. Some Republicans, however, have expressed reservations, particularly with regard to wait times to see physicians.