Child Advocate of the Year N.J. Association of Residential Facilities

Senator Vitale is at the forefront of addressing the many issues facing the people of New Jersey.
For example he is a leading advocate of providing comprehensive prescription drug benefits for the State's seniors and disabled individuals. "Medicare Part D is broken." says Vitale.



The coverage gap that most participants will be facing - the so-called 'donut hole' - is an inherent flaw in the system that threatens the health and well-being of our seniors and will ultimately cost taxpayers more to provide care to people covered by Medicare.
Comprehensive prescription drug coverage, just like coverage for preventative care, serves a means of reducing health care costs for everyone, as it provides a relatively low cost alternative to extensive hospital stays. By limiting benefits in the way Part D does, it discourages seniors from following their doctors' orders and filling all prescriptions.
"It's been shown that capping prescription drug benefits decreases life spans and costs insurance providers more money in the end," Vitale points out. "Congress needs to rethink this short-sighted design and work to fix the flaws in the system before too many more seniors are harmed both financially and medically."

Contact Our Office 732-855-7441 senvitale@njleg.org We want to hear from you. Telephone or e-mail us. Visit our district office at 87 Main Street, Woodbridge, NJ 07095.

Medicare Concerns
NJ Citizen Action report provides even more evidence that Medicare Part D is broken.
Senator Joseph F. Vitale, D-Middlesex, the Chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee and a leading advocate of providing comprehensive prescription drug benefits for the State's seniors and disabled individuals, made the following statement today after NJ Citizen Action released a report on the shortcomings of the Federal Medicare Part D prescription drug program.
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Charitable Immunity
Senator Vitale and Assemblyman Cohen authored legislation breaking down the protection of "charitable immunity" for charitable organizations that, through negligence, put children in danger of being sexually abused.
The reforms brought to the State's charitable immunity law will make it easier for victims who are being stonewalled by the charities that were supposed to protect them to seek justice," said Senator Vitale. "Charities have a responsibility to step in when the safety of those in their care come into question. Under the reformed Charitable Immunity Act, they will be held to that responsibility."
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