No, N.J. Republicans shouldn’t follow Christie down this rabbit hole!

Chris Christie‘s 2017 ‘State of the State’ obviously wasn’t a state of the state in any meaningful sense because, as was evident to anyone listening, most of the major issues impacting average New Jerseyans were ignored.

It was a ‘State of Chris Christie’s Career’ address.

This new heroin/opiod crisis countermeasures program is Step #1 of the embattled former GOP rockstar’s political rehabilitation plan. Good for him — no snark intended. It’s a worthy crusade for a private citizen. Or a group of politicians whose state ISN’T falling apart.

Meanwhile, the rest of us have other problems, too. Expensive, epic, yuuuugge problems which haven’t been solved in the past seven years and the current crop of leaders seem less-than-enthused to tackle.

What happens next? Beyond Christie when he leaves office next January?

Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick, boxed about the Democrat majority, is currently helping push key  elements of the Governor’s proposed anti-addiction plan down the field.

One element is a health insurance mandate.

“I’m proud to sponsor this legislation. It’s time to end the insurance company run-around,” explained Bramnick (R-Union) in a statement released shortly after the speech. “Denial should no longer be an option that blocks people from getting the treatment they need.”

If adopted, New Jersey insurance companies will not be permitted to deny coverage for the first six (6) months of either in-patient or outpatient drug-related rehabilitation treatment.

Here’s the problem with all of that, Save Jerseyans: mandates are the primary reason why health insurance is so freakin’ unaffordable here and elsewhere in the first place!

When young, healthy folks can’t afford a health care plan because it mandates mammograms (for men), just by way of example, the impact on the health insurance marketplace is predictably brutal. It’s simple mathematics. Any honest analyst agrees that expanded coverage isn’t worth the huge cost increase.

So much so that Chris Christie 1.0 railed against them in his 2009 election campaign against Jon Corzine. All 45 of them. He was absolutely right to do so at the time. Am I the only one who remember this?

He’s changed his mind. His priorities have changed.

Our state’s challenged have not.

My message is for all Republicans in, around, or on the verge of office in the Garden State:

Grow a pair (please!), and…

Don’t follow Chris Christie down this rabbit hole.

I don’t care what the media, or the Left, or advocacy groups, or the front office tells you. Obamacare is unpopular for a reason; America doesn’t want Jerseycare. New Jersey’s fleeing providers don’t even want it. And your base is going to continue shrinking and moving away until you stop the nonsense.

Listen to me: Abandoning your core positions — including opposition to anything that makes the Garden State less affordable — is a seismic mistake, and your party will continue pay for it at the polls long after Chris Christie is an anti-heroin addiction philanthropist or radio sports personality or whatever the hell he’s cooking up for 2018 and beyond. We need a contrast with the other side. You blew it on the gas tax, ladies and gentlemen. Every subsequent blown opportunity makes your own political rehabilitation as a party that much less likely.

You’ve been warned.

____

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8405 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.