Massachusetts Regulators Approve Rules To Exempt 20% Of State’s Uninsured From Penalties For Not Having Health Insurance

April 18, 2007 – 10:33 am | posted in Health Insurance

The Massachusetts Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector board on Thursday unanimously approved a proposal to exempt almost 20% of uninsured residents from a state law enacted last year that requires all residents to obtain health insurance, the Boston Globe reports (Dembner, Boston Globe, 4/13). Under the law, state residents who do not obtain health insurance could face fines or tax penalties. However, the law requires that the state exempt residents who cannot afford health insurance, with affordability standards left to the Connector. The proposal approved by the Connector would exempt from the law an estimated 60,000 low- and moderate-income residents who do not qualify for state subsidies, or about 1% of the population (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/12). According to the Globe, the approval of the proposal, which will become final after public hearings and a vote in June, “puts in place the last major building block of the state’s landmark health insurance initiative.” Reaction
Leslie Kirwan, chair of the Connector, said, “Our vote … sets the stage for covering virtually everyone with insurance that meets the highest standards in the nation” (Boston Globe, 4/13). Rev. Hurmon Hamilton, pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church and president of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, called the passage of the proposal “a tremendous victory,” adding, “It casts the widest possible net across those who are uninsured, while protecting the most vulnerable.” Len Nichols, an economist with the New America Foundation, said, “What the Massachusetts decision will do is put down a market that other advocates will use to say that costs can’t be more than 10% [of income]” (Appleby, USA Today, 4/13).

Romney Role
In related news, the Washington Post on Friday examined how former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R), who signed the state health insurance law last year, has not discussed the legislation as he “aggressively courts conservatives in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.” In his major speeches, Romney often does not discuss the law or criticizes provisions added to the legislation that he opposed. His “current lack of emphasis has surprised some of the people who worked on the legislation, who say it was not only Romney’s most significant accomplishment as governor but a major public policy triumph,” according to the Post. Romney aides deny that he has avoided discussion of the law (Bacon, Washington Post, 4/13).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . Â© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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