- New Jersey · Employee Benefits & HR
Your New Jersey benefits renewal is negotiable.
Most NJ employers accept the renewal their carrier sends and absorb the increase. We market your plan across every carrier in the state, restructure the funding, and document the savings. First-year reductions of 15–30% are typical.
What is your renewal costing you?
Four fields. We come back with what the New Jersey market would quote you today.
No obligation, and you keep the analysis either way. We do not sell or share your information.
NJ counties served
21
Every county in the state
Employers advised
1,200+
Across the Mid-Atlantic
Google rating
5.0
From 61 client reviews
Typical year-one saving
15–30%
For employers who switch
- Horizon BCBSNJ
- AmeriHealth NJ
- Aetna
- Oxford / UnitedHealthcare
- Oscar
- Cigna
- Independent — not captive
- Why NJ employers switch
New Jersey is not a generic benefits market.
New Jersey layers its own earned sick leave law, its own mini-COBRA, its own retirement mandate and its own individual coverage mandate on top of federal ACA, ERISA and COBRA obligations. A broker who treats NJ like any other state will miss something — and the penalties land on you, not them.
We are an independent employee benefits consultant, which means we are accountable for the result rather than the renewal. We hold carriers to account at renewal, model self-funded and level-funded alternatives against your actual claims data, and run the compliance calendar so nothing lapses. Every service below is included in our standard engagement at no additional cost.
- What we run for you
Benefits strategy and HR support, in one engagement.
Fixed monthly cost with a refund when claims run low. Often the right first step for NJ groups of 25–150 leaving fully insured.
Own your claims data and stop subsidizing the carrier’s risk pool. We handle stop-loss placement and TPA selection.
Share risk with similarly sized employers to smooth volatility. Most brokers avoid captives because they take real expertise.
Pharmacy is the fastest-growing line on your renewal. We audit the PBM contract and surface the spread you are paying.
ACA reporting, ERISA documents, NJ mini-COBRA notices, Section 125 plans. Audit-ready, not improvised.
Senior HR capacity without a senior HR salary — handbooks, investigations, terminations, policy.
Your people call us, not your HR team, when a claim is denied or a bill looks wrong. We resolve it.
Programs tied to claims outcomes rather than participation trophies, so the spend shows up at renewal.
Accident, critical illness, hospital indemnity, legal and pet — employee-paid coverage that widens the package at no employer cost.
Supplemental disability, key person coverage and deferred compensation for the people you cannot replace.
Employee Navigator for enrollment, onboarding and carrier feeds — configured and maintained by us.
- How the work actually looks
Three places we earn the fee.
At renewal
We take your plan to every carrier in the New Jersey market and use the competing quotes as leverage on your incumbent.
On compliance
ACA reporting, ERISA documents, NJ mini-COBRA notices and earned sick leave tracking, run on a calendar so nothing lapses.
At enrollment
Employee Navigator configured and maintained by us, with carrier feeds that stop the manual data entry.
New Jersey employers are not overpaying because they made a bad decision. They are overpaying because nobody made them a second offer.
Jennifer Schaefer, MBA, ChFC, SHRM-SCP · Founder & CEO · Read her story · Forbes Business Council
- New Jersey carrier market
We quote the whole state, not a shortlist.
Captive agencies and payroll-company brokers push the one or two carriers they are appointed with. As an independent consultant we hold appointments across the New Jersey market and put your group in front of all of them — then use the competing quotes as leverage on the incumbent.
Medical carriers writing group coverage in New Jersey
Carrier
Where it is strongest
Group market
Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey
The default statewide network across all 21 counties, with OMNIA, HMO, PPO, EPO and Direct Access designs and the deepest hospital relationships including RWJBarnabas, Hackensack Meridian and Atlantic Health.
- Small & large group
AmeriHealth New Jersey
Consistently competitive through Central and South Jersey — Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Mercer and the shore counties. Frequently the price-leader against Horizon for groups south of the Raritan.
- Small & large group
Oxford Health Plans (UnitedHealthcare)
Strong for North Jersey employers with commuters into New York City, and for multi-state groups needing a national network behind the NJ plan.
- Small & large group
Aetna
Aetna exited New Jersey’s individual marketplace at the end of 2025 but continues to write small group and large group employer coverage. Competitive on level-funded and self-funded arrangements.
- Small & large group
Oscar
Aggressive pricing and a strong digital member experience. Worth quoting for younger workforces where the narrower network is an acceptable trade.
- Small group
Cigna
Typically most competitive on larger and self-funded New Jersey groups, with strong behavioral health and international coverage for global employers.
- Large & self-funded
Ancillary market
Delta Dental of New Jersey, Guardian, MetLife, Principal, Lincoln Financial, Unum, The Hartford, VSP and United Concordia for dental, vision, life, disability and voluntary lines.
- Dental · Vision · Life · LTD
Carrier participation and rating changes annually. The New Jersey Small Employer Health Benefits Program defines a small group as 1–50 employees; above 50 you are rated on experience and have materially more leverage. Ask us what your group would be quoted today.
All 21 New Jersey counties
- Service area · All 21 counties
Find your county.
We write group benefits for employers everywhere in New Jersey — from Bergen County corporate headquarters to Cape May seasonal hospitality operations. Open a county to see the municipalities where we currently serve clients.
01Atlantic CountySouth
Absecon · Atlantic City · Brigantine · Buena · Egg Harbor City · Egg Harbor Township · Estell Manor · Galloway Township · Hamilton Township · Hammonton · Linwood · Longport · Margate City · Mays Landing · Northfield · Pleasantville · Somers Point · Ventnor City
02Bergen CountyNorth
Hackensack · Paramus · Fort Lee · Englewood · Teaneck · Ridgewood · Fair Lawn · Mahwah · Garfield · Bergenfield · Hasbrouck Heights · Rutherford · Lyndhurst · Cliffside Park · Ramsey · Tenafly · Closter · Wyckoff · Oradell · Saddle Brook
03Burlington CountySouth
Mount Laurel · Moorestown · Evesham Township & Marlton · Cinnaminson · Mount Holly · Willingboro · Medford Township & Medford Lakes · Burlington City · Bordentown · Delran · Maple Shade · Pemberton · Westampton · Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst
Employee benefits for Burlington County employers, including Mount Laurel and Moorestown →
04Camden CountySouth
Camden City · Cherry Hill Township · Voorhees · Gloucester Township · Pennsauken Township · Winslow Township · Haddonfield · Haddon Township · Collingswood · Berlin · Lindenwold · Merchantville · Audubon · Barrington
Employee benefits for Camden County employers, including Cherry Hill and Camden →
05Cape May CountySouth
Ocean City · Cape May City · Cape May Point · North Cape May · Wildwood · North Wildwood · Wildwood Crest · Sea Isle City · Stone Harbor · Avalon · Rio Grande · Middle Township · Lower Township · Dennis Township
06Cumberland CountySouth
Vineland · Millville · Bridgeton · Upper Deerfield Township · Maurice River Township · Shiloh · Fairfield Township · Hopewell Township · Commercial Township
07Essex CountyNorth
Newark · Montclair · Livingston · West Orange · East Orange · Bloomfield · Irvington · Nutley · Belleville · Millburn & Short Hills · Maplewood · South Orange · Verona · Caldwell · Cedar Grove · Roseland · Fairfield
08Gloucester CountySouth
Deptford Township · Washington Township · Glassboro · Monroe Township & Williamstown · West Deptford · Woodbury · Harrison Township & Mullica Hill · Franklin Township · Mantua · Swedesboro · Pitman · Logan Township
09Hudson CountyNorth
Jersey City · Hoboken · Bayonne · Union City · North Bergen · Weehawken · Secaucus · Kearny · West New York · Harrison · Guttenberg · East Newark
10Hunterdon CountyCentral
Flemington · Raritan Township · Clinton · Readington Township · Lambertville · Tewksbury · High Bridge · Milford · Frenchtown · Union Township · Delaware Township
11Mercer CountyCentral
Trenton · Princeton · Hamilton Township · Ewing Township · Lawrence Township · West Windsor · East Windsor · Hopewell Township & Hopewell Borough · Robbinsville · Pennington · Hightstown
Employee benefits for Mercer County employers, including Trenton and Princeton →
12Middlesex CountyCentral
New Brunswick · Edison · Woodbridge Township · Piscataway · Perth Amboy · Old Bridge · East Brunswick · North Brunswick · South Brunswick · Sayreville · Monroe Township · South Plainfield · Carteret · Metuchen · Highland Park · Plainsboro
13Monmouth CountyCentral
Freehold Township · Middletown Township · Howell Township · Marlboro · Manalapan · Red Bank · Long Branch · Asbury Park · Eatontown · Holmdel · Tinton Falls · Rumson · Fair Haven · Belmar · Manasquan · Sea Girt · Wall Township · Colts Neck · Hazlet · Sandy Hook
14Morris CountyNorth
Morristown · Parsippany-Troy Hills · Randolph · Denville · Dover · Madison · Florham Park · Rockaway · Mount Olive · Chatham · Roxbury · Hanover Township · Montville · Jefferson Township · Boonton · Kinnelon
15Ocean CountyCentral
Toms River · Brick Township · Lakewood · Jackson Township · Barnegat · Bayville · Bay Head · Beach Haven West · Lavallette · Little Egg Harbor · Long Beach Island · Mantoloking · Point Pleasant Beach · Seaside Heights & Seaside Park · Manchester Township
16Passaic CountyNorth
Paterson · Clifton · Wayne · Passaic · West Milford · Hawthorne · Totowa · Little Falls · Pompton Lakes · Ringwood · Woodland Park · Prospect Park · Haledon
17Salem CountySouth
Salem City · Pennsville Township · Carneys Point Township · Woodstown · Pilesgrove · Alloway Township · Elmer Borough · Oldmans Township · Quinton Township · Mannington Township
18Somerset CountyCentral
Somerville · Bridgewater · Franklin Township · Hillsborough · Bernards Township & Basking Ridge · Warren Township · Montgomery Township · Bound Brook · Raritan Borough · Bernardsville · Branchburg · Green Brook
19Sussex CountyNorth
Newton · Sparta · Vernon Township · Hopatcong · Hardyston · Franklin Borough · Andover · Byram · Hamburg · Stanhope · Wantage · Frankford
20Union CountyNorth
Elizabeth · Union Township · Plainfield · Westfield · Linden · Summit · Cranford · Rahway · Scotch Plains · Clark · Berkeley Heights · Springfield · New Providence · Roselle · Kenilworth
21Warren CountyNorth
Phillipsburg · Hackettstown · Washington Borough · Blairstown · Belvidere · Lopatcong · Mansfield Township · Greenwich Township · Independence Township · Knowlton
Headquartered in Newtown, Pennsylvania and licensed across the Mid-Atlantic. If your workforce crosses the river, see our Pennsylvania employee benefits page — multi-state groups are routine for us.
- What clients say
Rated 5.0 by the employers we work for.
Sixty-one verified reviews, every one of them five stars. The names that come up most are the people you would actually be working with.
5.0
61 verified client reviews · rated 5.0 out of 5
Kelly Steine and Bill Capece have been an outstanding partner for our company.
Michael McGraw · Group health renewal & cost containment
Eileen and Bill have been an absolute pleasure to work with.
Owen Frazier · Benefits & health insurance guidance
They go beyond being a traditional broker.
David Muntz · Financial planning firm owner, referring partner
- Who you will actually work with
A New Jersey consultant, not a call center.
You get named people with direct lines, not a rotating service queue. Your day-to-day consultant knows the New Jersey carrier market because he works in it every week.
Mike Schmidt
Employee Benefits Consultant
Based in New Jersey
Mike lives and works in New Jersey, which means your renewal strategy is built by someone who knows the Horizon, AmeriHealth and Oxford networks as a resident, not a visitor. He handles plan marketing, renewal negotiation and day-to-day account strategy for NJ employers across all 21 counties.
Jennifer Schaefer
Founder & CEO · MBA, ChFC, SHRM-SCP
Newtown, PA · Serving NJ
Jennifer founded JS Benefits Group on a single conviction: employers deserve an advisor accountable for results, not just renewals. Three decades in, the firm serves more than a thousand employers across the Mid-Atlantic and retains nearly all of them year over year. She is an invitation-only member of the Forbes Business Council and co-hosts Executive Leaders Radio.
Bill Capece
Director of Business Development
Serving New Jersey employers
Bill is usually the first person a New Jersey employer talks to. He runs the initial benefits analysis, scopes what your current plan is costing you against what the market would quote, and brings in the right specialist from there. Clients consistently single him out for being responsive and making a complicated process manageable.
- Federal + state obligations
What New Jersey requires of employers.
A summary of the rules that most often trip up NJ employers. Thresholds change; confirm your position before you rely on any of it.
Health coverage
ACA · 50+ FTE
New Jersey does not mandate that employers offer health insurance. Federal law does. If you average 50 or more full-time equivalent employees you are an Applicable Large Employer and owe affordable, minimum-value coverage or a penalty. Under 50, you have no mandate — but an ICHRA or health stipend can still deliver a real package affordably. Run the numbers with our ACA employer mandate penalty calculator.
Paid sick leave
NJ Earned Sick Leave
Nearly every New Jersey employer, at any size, must provide up to 40 hours of paid earned sick leave per benefit year. It covers full-time, part-time and temporary staff and accrues from the first day of employment. There is no small-employer exemption.
Continuation coverage
NJ mini-COBRA · federal COBRA
Employers with 2–19 employees follow New Jersey’s mini-COBRA law. Employers with 20 or more follow federal COBRA. The notice windows and continuation periods differ, and crossing the 20-employee line mid-year changes which regime applies — a frequent and expensive miss.
Retirement
NJ Secure Choice
Employers in business more than two years with 25 or more employees must offer a retirement plan — a 401(k), a comparable qualified plan, or enrollment in the New Jersey Secure Choice Savings Program.
Family & medical leave
NJFLA · FMLA · NJ FLI
Federal FMLA provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave. The New Jersey Family Leave Act adds its own 12 weeks for bonding or family care, and New Jersey Family Leave Insurance provides wage replacement funded through payroll deduction. Employees are also entitled to leave for jury duty, military obligations and crime victim circumstances.
Income protection
NJ TDB · UI · WC
New Jersey employers must carry workers’ compensation, participate in unemployment insurance, and provide Temporary Disability Benefits — New Jersey is one of a small number of states with a mandatory state TDB program.
Individual mandate
NJ Health Insurance Market Preservation Act
New Jersey maintains a state-level individual coverage mandate. Employers are not penalized, but employees without minimum essential coverage face a state tax payment — which makes a well-communicated employer plan more valuable to your workforce than in most states.
- Industries
We know your renewal because we know your industry.
New Jersey’s economy is unusually varied, and benefits strategy is not transferable between a Middlesex County logistics operation and a Somerset County pharmaceutical firm. We build to the workforce in front of us.
Pharmaceutical and biotech · logistics and warehousing · manufacturing · construction and trades · healthcare and senior care · financial and professional services · education · nonprofits and associations · hospitality and food service · retail and e-commerce · technology · government and municipal.
- Common questions
New Jersey employee benefits, answered.
New Jersey state law does not require it. Federal law does, above a threshold: employers averaging 50 or more full-time equivalent employees are Applicable Large Employers under the ACA and face penalties if they do not offer affordable, minimum-value coverage. Under 50 employees you have no mandate, but you still have options — the NJ Small Employer Health Benefits Program, an ICHRA, or a health stipend.
The New Jersey Small Employer Health Benefits Program includes Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, AmeriHealth New Jersey, Oxford Health Plans (UnitedHealthcare) and Oscar. Aetna and Cigna continue to write group business in New Jersey — Aetna’s 2025 exit affected only the individual marketplace, not employer coverage. We quote across all of them rather than defaulting to one.
Up to 40 hours of paid earned sick leave per benefit year, for nearly every employer regardless of size. It covers full-time, part-time and temporary employees and applies from the first day of work.
Yes. Employers with 2 to 19 employees fall under New Jersey’s mini-COBRA continuation law; employers with 20 or more fall under federal COBRA. Notice deadlines and continuation periods differ between the two, and getting the wrong one is a common source of penalties.
Employers in business more than two years with 25 or more employees must offer one — a 401(k), a comparable qualified plan, or enrollment in the NJ Secure Choice Savings Program.
Yes. We serve all 21 New Jersey counties, including Mercer County employers in Trenton, Princeton, Hamilton Township, Ewing, Lawrence Township, West Windsor, East Windsor, Hopewell and Robbinsville.
Our compensation comes from the standard carrier commissions already built into your premium. Compliance support, HR technology, employee advocacy and enrollment administration are included at no additional cost — you are not billed separately for them.
A broker of record change takes one signed letter and is effective immediately, with no change to your plan, carrier or employees. Most employers make the change well ahead of renewal so we have time to market the plan properly — 90 to 120 days out is ideal.
- Across the river and beyond
New Jersey rarely stays in New Jersey.
Plenty of NJ employers have staff in Philadelphia, warehouse operations in Bucks County, or remote employees scattered across three states. A broker licensed in one state turns that into your problem. We are licensed across the Mid-Atlantic, so a multi-state workforce is a design question rather than an obstacle.
Pennsylvania
Our home market. Headquartered in Newtown, Bucks County, serving employers across the Philadelphia region and the full state — and the other half of most NJ employers’ workforce.
New York
For North Jersey employers with Manhattan commuters and NY-domiciled staff.
Maryland
Rounding out Mid-Atlantic coverage for employers with regional footprints.
Comparing the two states directly? Our Pennsylvania employee benefits and HR compliance page covers the PA carrier market, Philadelphia-region networks and Pennsylvania’s own employer obligations — which differ from New Jersey’s in ways that matter if your workforce is split across the Delaware River.
Find out what you are overpaying.
A free benefits analysis compares your current New Jersey plan against what the market would quote you today. No obligation, no pressure — you keep the analysis either way.
Savings figures describe typical first-year results for employers who engaged JS Benefits Group and changed plan structure or carrier. Individual results vary by group size, claims experience, industry and plan design. Nothing on this page is a guarantee of savings, a quote, or an offer of coverage. JS Benefits Group, Inc. is a licensed insurance producer.
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