Sections 19, 20, 21, 22 & 23: Insurance Partnership Eligibility

Expands employee eligibility for participation in the Insurance Partnership Program to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level. • Ensures that Insurance Partnership subsidies are consistent with those provided under the Commonwealth Care program. • Specifies that self-employed individuals enrolled in the Insurance Partnership Program are eligible for employee subsidies only.

Sections 15, 16, 17 & 18: MassHealth Eligibility

Expands MassHealth eligibility for children up to 300% of the Federal Poverty Level, increased from the previous 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. • Prevents MassHealth from establishing disability criteria for determining eligibility that is more restrictive than the federal Social Security standards. • Establishes MassHealth eligibility standards for people with HIV at 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. • Requires the Office of Medicaid to provide statements of coverage to enrollees and verify coverage to the commissioner of revenue.

Sections 12 & 13: Individual Mandate Requirement

Establishes the procedure for implementation of the individual mandate. Qualifying individuals for whom "creditable coverage" is deemed affordable must have "creditable coverage" in place. Individuals must include information about health insurance status on their tax forms. Failure to meet the insurance requirement will result in a penalty, assessed by the department of revenue. All penalties will be deposited in the Commonwealth Care Trust Fund that will contribute to state subsidies for the Commonwealth Care program. • Creates a penalty for non-compliance with the individual mandate as equal to 50% of the lowest premium available for each month the individual did not have creditable insurance, as determined by the Connector.

Section 12 (Part 1): Individual Mandate Definitions

Chapter 111M provides for the individual mandate to have health insurance coverage. Section 1 provides definitions of "creditable coverage," which also provides that the board of the Connector has authority to further determine "minimum creditable coverage" standards for individual and group health plans; and defines "resident" for purposes of the individual mandate.