Well.

Governor Murphy vowed to defend reproductive rights during his annual budget address in Trenton on Tuesday and said he'd put his money where your mouth is proposing to spend $50 million on investments in women's health and protections for abortion and other reproductive health care, including launching a new OBGYN incentive program that's to attract doctors and other medical professionals from across the country who want to leave their jobs in states with abortion bans and bring them to the Garden State.

Senior correspondent Joanna Gagis has more.

Since my first budget, we have quadrupled funding for reproductive health, health care services, and our budget will build upon this progress by launching a new OBGYN incentive program.

With this program, we are going to attract doctors and medical professionals from across the nation to come and join us in the Garden State.

Governor Murphy made that announcement on Tuesday when he delivered his budget address, touching on an issue that's impacted patients in the state.

The shortage of ob gyn practitioners.

Access to timely appointments is difficult, and access and choice, which we know is a huge issue when we think about quality care and trust.

Has really been limited because of the, provider shortages.

Medical leaders in the field, like Helen Hannigan with the Southern New Jersey Perinatal Cooperative point to a myriad of reasons why there's a shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists.

The cost of living in our state has absolutely been called out.

In addition to the cost of malpractice and other fees that are different here in New Jersey at times, you know, 10 to 20% higher than in other states.

So when a provider, you know, who may be finishing school with a number of, you know, high, high loan amounts to pay back, they will, you know, the cost of living, the cost of practice in new Jersey has been a deterrent.

Add to that the fact that babies come when they want to.

So work life balance is especially hard on OB GYNs who need to be on call at any given moment.

The governor's plan isn't outlined yet, but administration officials say it will include incentives like loan forgiveness and covering the cost to move to New Jersey.

But even without complete details, the plan already has some skeptics.

I have a tremendous respect for the governor.

However, the OB millions are fleeing New Jersey because of high net malpractice rates, which does not exist in the other states.

I understand what his intent is, but I don't think it's practical.

There are a lot of restrictions placed in new Jersey, that make it very difficult to practice OBGYN.

So before you recruit people, you have to fix the system.

Part of that broken system, says Doctor Chervenak is the lower Medicaid reimbursement that doctors practicing in New Jersey receive compared to other states.

That's the amount that New Jersey will reimburse a doctor for a medicaid patients visit, separate from the federal reimbursement.

Medicaid reimbursement rates in new Jersey were ranked 49th out of the 50 states.

So you'd almost have to triple what the Medicaid reimbursements are to make it reasonable.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund has advocated for an increase to Medicaid rates, which did go through in the last fiscal budget, by about 30% across the board, according to Caitlin White, a.

We actually saw Medicaid rates increase in the past year for reproductive health care, and that has been largely helpful for providers, and for patients who are coming, to health centers that can, you know, serve them and be reimbursed for those costs.

So and that's not just preparing for Planned Parenthood health centers.

That's anyone who accepts Medicaid as an insurance.

The governor didn't specifically say it, but a portion of this incentive program could go to training and attracting OB GYNs and other professionals who can provide abortions.

I see this new program that Governor Murphy has outlined as a way to allow those practitioners to come to a state like new Jersey, where we are seeing patients from out of state.

We've had an influx of patients from out of state, and allow them to care for those folks who are coming here.

Going to the evidence, going to the people speaking to the community is a key strategy, and I expect that that will be a big part of how the commissioner gets started.

And the state designs this program.

They're ready to offer input from the ground level as the administration develops the plan.

For NJ Spotlight News, I'm Joanna Gagis.