Christie 55 Solutions LLC

The New Jersey Reentry Corporation (NJRC) and the Cohen Veterans Network (CVN) launched an innovative partnership with the support of the State of New Jersey to expand access to mental health care for New Jersey veterans and their families. Through the partnership, veterans can receive up to 12 individual counseling sessions through The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Easterseals. The partnership brings together mental health providers, New Jersey hospital systems, and veteran-serving organizations to give veterans and their families sustained support. It builds on NJRC's veterans program, which has connected over 2,000 New Jersey veterans to services statewide. Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, Chairman of NJRC, Commissioner Vincent Solomeno of the New Jersey Department of Veterans Affairs, General Michael Fleming of CVN, Grace Caulfield, LCPC, LPC (DC, VA), CAC-AD, Director of The Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Easterseals, Sharon McGreevey, Director of NJRC Veteran Services, and Richard Bagger of Christie 55 Solutions joined veterans, advocates and mental health clinicians to launch the partnership at the NJRC Veterans Center in Carteret. Christie 55 Solutions LLC helped bring NJRC and CVN together to provide the foundation for this new partnership, and is proud to support their work to ensure that New Jersey veterans and their families can access high quality mental health care and supportive services.

Employers managing prescription drug benefits governed by ERISA are facing new legal and regulatory developments–and heightened scrutiny of their PBM oversight. Christie 55 Solutions Associate Jaden W.R. Jackson, Esq. has released a new white paper: "ERISA Fiduciary Duties and PBM Oversight: Emerging Litigation and Considerations for Plan Sponsors." For employer-sponsored health plan fiduciaries, Jaden's analysis highlights three critical realities: The risk extends beyond retirement plans to include health benefit plans as well: ERISA's strict duties of loyalty and prudence apply to how employers manage health plans and oversee their Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs). Litigation risk is increasing: Plan participants are pursuing ERISA prohibited-transaction claims that challenge the financial arrangements between health plans and their PBMs. Transparency and documented oversight is essential: Fiduciaries should move away from opaque "spread pricing" models, demand full audit rights, and require rebate pass-throughs in their PBM contracts. Proactive oversight is no longer optional, it's a fiduciary imperative. Read Jaden's full analysis here: https://lnkd.in/emQjpDK9

Governor Chris Christie delivered the keynote address at the Granite State Summit on Responsible Gaming in New Hampshire this week, calling on lawmakers and state Attorneys General to take action against the rapid and unchecked expansion of prediction markets. He made clear that these platforms are not operating in a gray area. They are functioning as unlicensed, unregulated sports betting businesses, generating massive profits while bypassing the oversight traditional sports betting companies are required to follow. "It has gotten away from us…in a way that none of us anticipated." His message to state leaders was direct: don't wait for federal action. Send cease-and-desist letters. File enforcement actions in state court. "Go right at them, because they're sticking it to your state from a public health perspective, from a revenue perspective." The summit also put a human face on the cost of inaction. Youth advocates described students losing thousands of dollars in savings before graduating high school, a stark reminder that this isn't just a policy debate, it's a problem impacting people and communities that is playing out in real time. State leaders have the tools to act, and now is the time to use them. Read more: https://lnkd.in/eg8Nzb-M

Governor Chris Christie joined CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the true nature of prediction markets, how they are seeking to evade state oversight, and the latest legal developments as the vast majority of courts are siding with the states rather than prediction market operators. Governor Christie rejected the idea that prediction markets are somehow different from sports betting, pointing out that sports make up 85–90% of prediction markets’ business, even while they attempt to circumvent state laws governing whether or not sports betting is permitted and sidestep state consumer projection and taxation in those states that have chosen to allow it. Governor Christie noted that 44 state Attorneys General, Republicans and Democrats alike, have pushed back on the CFTC’s assertion of authority over sports betting platforms disguised as prediction markets. Governor Christie explained that absent congressional action, this issue could ultimately reach the Supreme Court, where the justices would have to decide, as they have in the past, whether sports betting is, at its core, an issue of state sovereignty. Watch the full conversation on CNBC: https://lnkd.in/eJEuyVvB

Governor Chris Christie's new op-ed examines North Carolina's decision to carve out special treatment for so called "prediction markets" in its state budget and why he believes North Carolina just set a dangerous precedent. In a last minute provision buried deep in the state budget, lawmakers created a pathway for so called "prediction markets" to offer sports betting with a dramatically lower tax rate than licensed, state regulated sportsbooks, all without meaningful public debate. These platforms claim to offer "investments," yet they advertise to consumers as sports betting. They operate outside the regulatory framework that licensed sports books follow, sidestepping consumer protections and regulatory oversight, while depriving states of well over a billion dollars in tax revenues that support education and other vital government programs. Other states should not let themselves be hoodwinked into making this costly mistake that threatens state budgets and the integrity of legal, regulated sports betting. Read Governor Christie's full op-ed below: https://lnkd.in/evt4Yqe7

Governor Christie is a contributor to the PBS BREAKING THE DEADLOCK series, in which prominent Americans participate in hypothetical situations that implicate core civic and constitutional principles. The most recent episode in this series examines what happens to American democracy's 250-year-old values when a foreign drug cartel, federal troops, and a contested election collide. That's the scenario at the center of BREAKING THE DEADLOCK: HOW TO FIX AN ELECTION, a special now streaming on the PBS app and PBS YouTube channel. The discussion centers on the fictional state of Middlevania, with Governor Christie playing the role of its governor, to explore the real tensions between law, security, and electoral integrity in modern America. Watch now ⤵️ https://lnkd.in/ex-jh9Mt