Thursday, 4:30 PM
State sets premiums for new health insurance plan
By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff
The premiums insurers will charge to cover the poorest Massachusetts residents are in line with what the architects of the state's new health insurance law predicted, meaning there should be enough money to pay for the plan in its initial year, state officials said.
State regulators set the rates Thursday for residents who now lack insurance and earn less than 300 percent of the poverty level -- $29,412 for a single person. The four insurers offering coverage will charge monthly premiums of $276 to $391, depending on the type of plan a resident enrolls in and where they live. For residents at or below the poverty level -- $9,804 for a single person -- the state will pay the entire premium. For those above the poverty level, the state will pay a portion of the cost, with the state subsidy shrinking as income rises.
Gov. Mitt Romney's administration had estimated that premiums would be about $300 a month, while legislative staff had predicted they would average $325. These estimates were crucial in approving the law, because they determined how much funding would be needed for the insurance program, which requires all Massachusetts adults to have coverage by July 1, 2007.
Health and Human Services Secretary Timothy Murphy said the premiums are close enough to the administration's predictions that he believes the program will have adequate funding, especially given that the number of uninsured residents has dropped since the initial calculations were made.
