Murphy Issues Insurance Premium Grace Periods

By George N. Saliba, Managing Editor On Apr 9, 2020

Gov. Phil Murphy announced a new executive order today that provides 60-day grace periods for health and dental insurance premium payments, and 90-day grace periods for: home and auto insurance; renters insurance; life insurance; and for insurance premium financing arrangements.

Murphy added that “the order makes it clear that all claims covered by the insurance policy must be paid out to those who are within those grace periods. Additionally, insurers can’t demand repayment of unpaid premiums in a lump sum at the end of the grace period, but rather they must spread those payments out over the remainder of the insurance term.”

A complete copy of Executive Order No. 123 may be found here.

An Unemployment Record

New Jersey unemployment continues to soar, with 214,836 new claims announced today, bringing total state unemployment claims filed between March 15 and April 4 to 576,904.

Of today’s nearly 215,000 figure (data for the week ending April 4), Gov. Murphy said, “This is another record. It is one we don’t like breaking, by any means.”

Referring to the New Jersey Department of Labor’s aging computer systems and long wait times to file for unemployment insurance benefits, Murphy said, “no one will be denied benefits. ” He added that residents should attempt accessing the website in the early morning or “late at night.”

Public Health

Both Murphy and New Jersey Department of Health Commissioner Judith M. Persichilli announced 3,748 new positive COVID-19 cases overnight, for a statewide total of 51,027 cases, so far.

Offering new details for the first time, leaders also announced at today’s press conference that 7,363 New Jersey patients with COVID-19 are hospitalized, 1,523 are in intensive care, 1,551 patients are on ventilators, and 421 New Jerseyans were discharged from hospitals in the past 24 hours. Also, there were 198 COVID-19 deaths overnight in New Jersey, for a cumulative total of 1,700 fatalities, thus far.

Persichilli said that New Jersey just received $5 million in federal funding from the United States Department of Health and Human Services for the state’s local health departments.

The monies, she explained, will be delivered to local health departments based on the populations they serve. It will assist with a range of COVID-19 matters, including, but not limited to: contact tracing, “supporting individuals who need a safe place to quarantine,” and providing guidance to long-term care facilities.

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