Serving over 27 years as the Director of Rutgers’ Center for State Health Policy, Dr. Joel Cantor helped establish the Center as one of New Jersey’s most trusted sources of independent health policy research.
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Joel Cantor
Exploring Policy Pathways for a Public Health Insurance Option: FamilyCare Buy-In Program
This report examines three policy options New Jersey could consider to expand coverage for individuals who are left out of federal programs due to their immigration status or because they cannot afford coverage. The options are a Basic Health Program (BHP), a Medicaid Buy-In, and a state-run Public Option.
NJSPL: Making Sense of NJ Hospital Consolidation in a Challenging Policy Environment
The recent wave of hospital consolidation has affected all of New Jersey’s Hospital Referral Regions (HRRs), which represent the distinct markets where most patients receive their hospital care.
NJSPL: Professors Cantor and DeLia Dissect Gov. Sherrill’s Healthcare Proposals
Governor Sherrill’s first budget proposal provides an early look into the administration’s healthcare affordability agenda. Professors Joel Cantor and Derek DeLia examine the agenda and make recommendations.
2026 NJBIZ Health Care Power List includes Prof. Joel Cantor
The 2026 NJBIZ Health Care Power List includes Prof. Joel Cantor, the founding director of the Rutgers Center for State Health Policy and a longtime leader in health policy research.
New college graduates face a tough job market. Here’s why unemployment hits them harder
Many college graduates have some time before they need to figure out their own health insurance coverage. Young adults can typically stay on a parent’s private plan until age 26, said Joel Cantor. Some states even allow dependents to stay on longer than that.
Fines weren’t enough to keep Jersey City hospital open, so lawmakers aim to get tougher
“The idea was to monitor more closely,” Cantor said. “I don’t recall that we had discussions of imposing penalties, but just to have the state poised to be better positioned to predict when hospitals were getting into trouble.”
HMN 2025: What are the promising strategies for providing health care to homeless people
“Health care providers are used to dealing with people who are deeply focused on their health, and that’s not always the case with the unhoused,” Cantor said. “If I don’t have a place to sleep or enough to eat, how can I possibly think about seeing a doctor?”
Still, Cantor said effective collaboration could help organizations stretch limited resources and meet patients where they are.
As he put it, such partnerships are not only necessary, but increasingly essential as “money is going to get tighter everywhere.”
Cantor, Yedidia Identify Strategies to Provide Health Care to Homeless
A study by Joel Cantor and Michael Yedidia published in The Milbank Quarterly found that partnerships between housing and health care organizations significantly improve services for people experiencing homelessness by making better use of limited resources. Through interviews with administrators and frontline providers in eight New Jersey programs, researchers identified strategies such as co-locating services, maintaining strong inter-organizational communication, and tailoring care to client needs.
Medicaid Work Requirements Set to Leave Millions Without Insurance
Cantor pointed out that state Medicaid agencies are feeling more stress than before, as offices are already low on resources for their current work without adding more paperwork each year, and more reach out to those who need to prove their employment.