Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey Chairman and CEO Robert A. Marino issued the following statement on 7/3/17 in response to the announcement by legislative leaders of their agreement on legislation modifying the Health Service Corporation statutes, ending the State Budget impasse and State government shutdown:

“We thank all of our legislative supporters, in particular Speaker Prieto, and a broad coalition of business, labor and consumer groups who stood up for Horizon’s 3.8 million policyholders. The compromise reached today with Speaker Prieto’s and Senate President Sweeney’s leadership achieves a goal we established when the Governor first introduced the idea of taking our reserves: Horizon would only agree to legislation that is reasonable, avoids higher costs for our members, and that does not impose unfair or excessive obligations. Horizon is proud to be celebrating our 85th anniversary in New Jersey, proud to have forcefully fought for our policyholders in Trenton, and is proud to have played a role in breaking the impasse for the betterment of our state.”