Help Paying for Health Insurance
through the Massachusetts Insurance Partnership

If you live and work or own a business in Massachusetts, you may be eligible for state assistance paying health insurance premiums. This program financially benefits both the employer and the employee (by providing health insurance premium subsidies and administrative cost reimbursements) and has generous income limitations. It's available for the self-employed, too. It is NOT a health insurance plan (you keep your own plan), but rather a premium subsidy.

With the recent changes in Massachusetts health insurance requirements, income guidelines have been greatly increased! Many people who previously didn't qualify for this program now do. The old income cut-off of about $18,000 for a single person has been increase to over $30,000 a year. If you applied in the past but made too much money to qualify, you should apply again. As of 4/07, the maximum subsidy for a single person is $150, adjusted based on your income level and health insurance cost. A couple of hours to deal with paperwork could result in up to $1800 per year in savings for individuals, over $5,500 for families. (Subsidy amounts and income guidelines keep changing, so please don't assume amounts on this page are correct.)

Remember, health insurance is now mandatory in Massachusetts. If your employer does not offer health insurance, you must 'self-insure' by purchasing your own plan (visit the Commonwealth Care web site or call 1-877-MA-ENROLL (TTY: 1-877-623-7773) for information on the plans available). If you do not have proof of insurance, you may lose some or all of any state tax refund you are owed.

Note that income guidelines and eligibility requirements have changed several times as Massachusetts revises the law on this. The income and premium subsidy information given below should only be used as a guide - subsidies were computed as a flat rate but now are based on a combination of income and health insurance cost; the self-employed used to receive the employer administrative subsidy but no longer do, etc.

Employees

• Must be between the ages of 19 and 64 (inclusive)
• Must be a Massachusetts resident
• Receive (or be eligible to receive) comprehensive health insurance through a qualified employer
• Meet income guidelines (for a single person the limit is $30,636 thru 6/30/08, adjusted annually)
• You DO NOT NEED TO HAVE CHILDREN OR BE DISABLED to qualify
• You CAN BE SELF-EMPLOYED
• You must provide proof of citizenship or that you are a legal guest worker

Employers

• Employ 50 or fewer full-time employees
• Offer, or plan to offer, comprehensive health insurance to its employees
• Contribute or plan to contribute at least 50% of the premium costs

Example Savings

If you meet income standards, the Insurance Partnership may pay most of your share of your health insurance costs. At the lowest income levels, your monthly cost will be:

• Children: $14 per child, up to a maximum of $28 per family (including all family members)
• Adults: $28 per adult (or $56 per couple)

For Example: $1,000 Family Premium, 50% Employer Contribution

Employee share: $500
Insurance Partnership contribution: $472
Employee actually pays: $28

Your employees can save up to $472 a month or over $5,500 a year. (Premium subsidies are pro-rated based on actual income and cost of the health insurance.)

This is a great program for lower income employees and for employers who would like to offer health insurance but think their employees can't afford it. Since it offers an administrative subsidy to the employer, it also reduces their cost to provide health insurance benefits.

How to Apply

Visit the Insurance Partnership web site, or call 800.399.8285 for more information and application forms. The Insurance Partnership is a division of MassHealth (so don't be confused when you get letters saying they're from MassHealth instead of the Insurance Partnership).