Citing aggressive initiatives to enroll those without health insurance in New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine said the state is “setting the national standard” to ensure affordable health care for residents.

A new U.S. Census report indicates that while the national rate for the uninsured grew 1.5%, the number of New Jersey residents without health insurance fell 11%, or 147,000 individuals, between 2007 and 2008, the second largest reduction in the nation.

Jon S. Corzine

Corzine credited state programs like FamilyCare, the state- and federally-funded health plan, and the New Jersey Health Reform Act of 2008, signed last year, for expanding health insurance eligibility and providing more access to affordable health coverage for children.

“Families cannot build a strong economic future for their children without stable, secure and affordable health insurance and that is what our Administration has been working to accomplish,” Corzine said in a statement. “In New Jersey, we are setting the national standard to ensure our families have secure and affordable health care and our children have a healthy start in life.”

In April, Corzine announced a state initiative to track and enroll children in FamilyCare through tax forms, as one way to reduce New Jersey’s youngest residents without coverage. The governor cited the “Express Lane” option as one way the state has ramped up efforts to reduce the uninsured.

New Jersey has eligibility for FamilyCare set at 350% of the federal poverty level, one of the “most generous levels in the nation,” according to the governor’s office. It has expanded the program to cover all parents up to 200% of the federal poverty level as well.

Since 2006, FamilyCare/Medicaid enrollment has grown 24% for children and adults, Corzine noted, and as of Aug. 31, 2009, 595,002 children and 244,104 parents are enrolled in FamilyCare.

Neil N. Jasey, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, said the drop in the number of uninsured in the state “is evidence that New Jersey is at the forefront of addressing the national healthcare crisis.”

“Consistent with our mandate, DOBI strongly enforces existing New Jersey law, including Governor Corzine’s recently passed healthcare reforms to ensure consumers are protected and insurance coverage is available,” Jasey said in a statement.

Corzine also announced that 48,000 households in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Monmouth and Ocean counties will be receiving FamilyCare Express Lane applications by mail. With this group of mailings, 290,000 applications have been sent to families who indicated on their 2008 state tax forms that at least one child in their household in uninsured.