Dear Chairman Vitale and Members of the Committee,
Thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony on New Jersey’s implementation of H.R. 1, the 2025 federal reconciliation law known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” H.R. 1 adds new reporting rules, document requests, and eligibility checks to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and NJ FamilyCare (Medicaid), which help New Jerseyans afford food and health care. No eligible New Jerseyan should lose either one because of paperwork. The new requirements and eligibility changes fall hardest on those with the least time, flexibility, and support to meet them.
Our testimony offers three steps to protect eligible residents’ access to both safety net programs. New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) is a nonpartisan think tank that drives policy change to advance economic, social, and racial justice through evidence-based research, strategic communications, and authentic partnerships.
State Actions Should Keep Families Connected to Food and Health Benefits
Since SNAP expanded work rules went into effect in 2025, more than 55,000 people in New Jersey have lost food nutrition benefits. And starting January 1, 2027, about 540,000 New Jerseyans will face new Medicaid work reporting rules.. Most people who receive SNAP are also covered by Medicaid, and nationally about one in five Medicaid adults likely to face the new work requirements also receive SNAP. For families in both programs, H.R. 1 means keeping pace with two sets of rules at once, each with its own reporting process and its own consequence for a mistake. Consider a home health aide whose hours change every week. One missed notice or mismatched pay stub is all it takes to put her family’s groceries and health coverage at risk in the same month.
Families should not lose either program because of a missed notice, a confusing form, or a backlog at the county office. We urge the Committee to back three steps, one for each of those problems.
First, close coverage gaps. Our recent report, Medicaid Work Requirements: Barriers by Design, shows how complicated reporting rules put eligible people at risk of losing coverage, and a state-funded Medicaid bridge program is one of its central recommendations. The people most at risk, including immigrants and people who are medically frail, must provide documentation when the State does not already have eligibility data for them. Even a short break in health care is costly for families and for the State, leading to more emergency room visits and uncompensated care. A Medicaid bridge program would provide temporary coverage to people who lose NJ FamilyCare over reporting or documentation problems while they fix the issue or appeal.
Second, support families after they apply. NJHelps.gov already lets families apply for SNAP and NJ FamilyCare in one place. Under H.R. 1, the application is only the first step: families will face more document requests and more frequent eligibility checks after they enroll. The State should give them one place to upload documents, track their application and eligibility status, and see what is still needed for either program. It should be written in plain language, available in multiple languages, and easy to use on a phone.
Third, fund the county offices. County social services offices handle enrollment for both programs and are absorbing higher administrative costs, more complex screening, SNAP time-limit tracking, and more appeals. They need funding for staffing and training, coordinated outreach, and caseload management.
Losing SNAP or Medicaid can make it harder for families to get other help. New Jersey uses both programs’ records to enroll students in free or reduced-price school meals automatically, and those enrollments help determine whether a school can offer free meals to every student. A family that loses SNAP or Medicaid over paperwork may have to apply for school meals on its own, as our recent analysis, Meals as Fuel: Federal Cuts Put Free School Lunch at Risk for New Jersey Kids, explains.
No eligible New Jerseyan should lose food or health care because of paperwork. Keeping both food and health benefits accessible for eligible residents is the most practical way to protect those families and the State’s investment in them.
Thank you, and we look forward to the Committee’s continued leadership on this issue.
Dining and Cooking