Daily News Updates - Health Insurance News

Mass. Medical Model Shines, Pt.6 – More triumphs and challenges.

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Since the new findings ‘debunk’ those fears, it is hoped that all requirements will be met. The record shows that results are even better than expected. For one thing, a substantial percentage of these new enrollees have actually gone out and purchased new private health insurance policies. Since these do not exact a cost on the state, the program is actually showing significant gains without having to pay for them. Almost half of the new enrollees have taken out private health insurance policies, while the largest part of this group (comprising 159,000 residents) have obtained employer-based health insurance. This has all happened since the program began in 2006 until almost present (‘til March of this year).

This brings around to the mounting scuffle between Governor Patrick’s administration and the business community. Massachusetts’ legislators are poised on mandating that all businesses having over ten full-time employees will have to either cover at least one-third of their full-time workers' premiums and also guarantee that at least a quarter of their employees have secured employer-based health insurance. Should they fail to meet this requirement, the employer would have to pay into a fund to assist those uninsured employees in obtaining health insurance elsewhere. The cost to the employer for non-compliance would be a $295 annual penalty for each full-time worker under their employ. The regulation is scheduled to go into effect at the beginning of October. The proceeds are expected to be around $45 million per fiscal year and would be applied toward the program’s fund.

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