Penalty could exceed $900 for refusing to get health insurance under mandatory Mass law[views:5862][posts:33]_______________________________________ [Jan 8,2009 4:54pm - My_Dying_Bride ""] Penalties for Massachusetts residents who can afford health insurance but do not purchase it in 2008 could quadruple compared with the maximum penalty in 2007, according to draft regulations released by the Department of Revenue yesterday. The maximum penalty for those who flout the law and do not buy health insurance would be $912 a year, compared to $219 in 2007. The higher penalty is intended to get those who are on the fence to buy health insurance. For those wavering, it could make more sense to pay for insurance than to pay the penalty. The proposed penalties also drive home the full impact of the health reform law's personal mandate principle. This approach makes buying health insurance a responsibility of all residents, similar to the way drivers are required to purchase auto insurance. The penalty was enacted to spur residents to purchase insurance rather than rely on the care hospitals are still required to provide to patients regardless of coverage or ability to pay. "We have worked hard to craft these penalties in a manner that is straightforward and easy to understand," said revenue commissioner Henry Dormitzer in a statement. "We hope they will encourage people who can afford health insurance to buy it." In a statement explaining the penalties, the revenue department said, "These penalties apply only to adults who are deemed able to afford health insurance." Residents who cannot afford insurance, based on state standards, won't be penalized. Residents who face penalties can appeal. Residents can comment on the proposed penalties until Jan. 15. The regulations will be finalized early this year. Residents won't face the proposed penalties until early 2009, when they file their tax returns for 2008. The health reform law, signed by former governor Mitt Romney in April 2006, states that the penalty for 2007 would be the loss of an individual's personal income tax exemption. This will cost residents who didn't get coverage $219 when they file their 2007 state income tax return. Under the law, penalties for 2008 and beyond would be tied to the lowest-cost option of insurance coverage. But it was up to the revenue department to determine the precise formula. Under the formula issued yesterday, the amount an uninsured resident pays for 2008 varies by income and how long the resident goes without insurance. For instance, those 26 and younger who earn too much to qualify for low-cost insurance and who go the whole year without coverage would pay a $672 penalty. Those 27 and older would pay $912, the maximum. Those who have coverage for part of the year would pay a corresponding amount of the penalty. In addition, those who earn less than 150 percent of the federal poverty level, or $15,324 for an individual, won't face penalty. The fees are based on half the cost of the least expensive insurance plan available to each resident but are capped to avoid excessive fees. Thus, a 60-year-old resident of Boston, who would pay more than $4,600 a year for health insurance provided by the state, could have been hit with a $2,300 penalty. But the maximum possible penalty is $912 for all residents. The draft regulations are available at the revenue department's website at mass.gov/dor. It is still unknown how many residents will have to pay the $219 penalty for 2007, according to the Department of Revenue and the Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector Authority, which administers the new law. A spokesman for the Department of Revenue, said it would measure how many pay the penalty when 2007 tax returns are filed this spring. The connector authority has said that about 290,000 residents have signed up for health insurance since the personal mandate went into effect July 1. That includes 160,000 residents who qualify for subsidized coverage, 70,000 who qualify for Medicaid, the government health plan for the poor, and 60,000 who purchased full-cost coverage through the state or their employers. The tally will be updated Jan. 10. Before the health law was implemented, the state estimated that about 400,000 residents lacked health insurance while the US census estimated the number of uninsured was 657,000. John E. McDonough, executive director of Health Care for All, an advocacy group that helped craft the health insurance law, said he was pleased with the proposed penalties. The department "really listened, and we see a lot of our concerns reflected in this schedule," said McDonough. "It's fair, simple, and sensitive to the needs of residents." this is gayer news than the Phish reunion |
| __________________________________________ [Jan 8,2009 4:56pm - FuckIsMySignature ""] i'm sure they'll have no trouble getting that money from people. |
| _______________________________________ [Jan 8,2009 6:11pm - My_Dying_Bride ""] well I can kiss my shitty $200 state return goodbye |
| _______________________________________ [Jan 8,2009 6:22pm - josh_hates_you ""] hmm 25 a week for healthcare i never use and do not like is 1300 a year. can i just take the tax penalty? |
| ______________________________ [Jan 8,2009 7:25pm - Hoser ""] Hey, you clowns keep voting Democrat...now deal with it and STFU. |
| ____________________________ [Jan 8,2009 7:32pm - pam ""] ....a republican put this law in. Try again. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/h...5-07-04-health-insurance-usat_x.htm |
| _____________________________________ [Jan 8,2009 7:33pm - SkinSandwich ""] LOLZ at healthcare. |
| ____________________________________________ [Jan 8,2009 7:46pm - MarkFuckingRichards ""] pam said:....a republican put this law in. Try again. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/h...5-07-04-health-insurance-usat_x.htm HAH! 2 points for Pam. PWN3D. |
| _____________________________ [Jan 9,2009 7:28am - Yeti ""] Hoser said:Hey, you clowns keep voting Democrat...now deal with it and STFU. i fucking hate you so much. |
| _____________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 8:14am - SkinSandwich ""] Hey, I didn't vote at all, so rest it. All in all I hate dems and Repubs. They are all crooked thieves in one way or another. They have never cared about the people they are supposed to represent. I think the only politician I might have a bit of respect for was Charlie Wilson. He did cocaine, fucked escorts, had hot secreteries and won the war in Afghanistan against the maurading commie Soviet Union. Good times! |
| _____________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 11:06am - Josh_Martin ""] Hoser, I can't fucking believe someone as stupid as you was allowed to reproduce. Please please get a vasectomy. Its for the good of t he american genepool. Don't you care about America? But anyway, that article is a year old. Anyone know if the new penalties actually went through? |
| ______________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 11:18am - the_reverend ""] http://www.mainedems.org/186.html funny that hoser moved from a red state (NH was red when he lived here) to a deep blue state. ha! |
| ____________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 11:47am - arilliusbm ""] it's not that hard to get cheap healthcare. should this be allowed? no. should people have health insurance? yes. are insurance companies the most evil corporations in america? yes. |
| ___________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 11:49am - dreadkill ""] the_reverend said:http://www.mainedems.org/186.html funny that hoser moved from a red state (NH was red when he lived here) to a deep blue state. ha! deep blue something |
| ____________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 11:52am - arilliusbm ""] breakfast at tiffanys? that song gives me nightmares. |
| _____________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 11:59am - ouchdrummer ""] didn't hoser post a "i am sick of everyone hating me, lets be friends" thread like 5months ago? What happened to that? Am i thinkin of someone different? (couldn't find it in the search) |
| ___________________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 12:10pm - FuckIsMySignature ""] ouchdrummer said:didn't hoser post a "i am sick of everyone hating me, lets be friends" thread like 5months ago? What happened to that? Am i thinkin of someone different? (couldn't find it in the search) ya he also posted a thread saying he was going to stop posting threads and comments |
| _____________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 12:19pm - Sacreligion ""] to his credit, all hoser has to do in maine is drink and bitch. |
| _______________________________ [Jan 9,2009 12:26pm - Hoser ""] To Josh Fartin and Pam....YES...Mitt signed the bill, but the asshole Dems that you babies keep voting into office are the ones that passed and proposed it! What a fuckin' pair of dorfs you 2 are.... And rev is always protecting massholes...now he's a dorf too. |
| _____________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 12:31pm - ouchdrummer ""] hahaha josh-fartin... hahaha that's the funniest thing EVER! ...wait, no it isn't. |
| ______________________________ [Jan 9,2009 12:43pm - Yeti ""] Sacreligion said:to his credit, all hoser has to do in maine is drink and bitch. "all he can do, is dial, and yell" |
| ____________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 3:43pm - Josh_Martin ""] Hoser said: but the asshole Dems that you babies keep voting into office are the ones that passed and proposed it! . Wrong again. I hope your kid got mostly your wife's genes. Though God knows how retarded the person who married you is. Don't you ever get tired of being wrong about everyfuckingthing? Mitt passed that shit because back then he thought he was a shoe-in for the republican nomination and he wanted to be able to show the country how he "fixed" the health care system in Mass. Fortunately, McCain kicked his ass. |
| _________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 8:29pm - Dankill ""] Watch out when they try to push the max coverage on you, like prescription drugs, even if you don't take any or need them. It's coming. I've already got calls about it from my agent. If anyone here runs a small business or is self employed, look up Health Markets insurance. It's actually pretty good and doesn't cost a lot. |
| _________________________________________ [Jan 9,2009 10:18pm - Conservationist ""] Hoser said:Hey, you clowns keep voting Democrat...now deal with it and STFU. Now that we've extended benefits to everyone, the system can't pay for those without healthcare, who are: 1. Illegals 2. Ghetto-dwellers 3. In grindcore bands LOL |
| _______________________________ [Jan 9,2009 10:48pm - Hoser ""] Thank God...hope they all die. |
| ______________________________ [Jan 10,2009 12:04am - pam ""] Hoser you always bring the LOLZ. A republican governor comes up with and proposes a plan to prevent illegals and other shitheads from ringing up free care bills the STATE has to pay, and you snub your nose at it and blame democrats...for passing a fiscally conservative program that forces people to take fucking responsibility for their own health care. So according to this you: -Prefer illegals/junkies/etc go to emergency rooms whenever they get the sniffles and hand their bills to the state and taxpayers to handle. -Think badly of democrats voting with a republican on a bill put in place to cost the state less and encourage personal responsibility. I feel like I should have to pay admission for this shit. |
| ____________________________________ [Jan 10,2009 12:58am - dreadkill ""] dorfs |
| ___________________________________ [Jan 10,2009 1:02am - dreadkill ""] arilliusbm said:breakfast at tiffanys? that song gives me nightmares.it gives me a priapism |
| __________________________________________ [Jan 10,2009 11:40am - Conservationist ""] pam said:A republican governor comes up with and proposes a plan to prevent illegals and other shitheads from ringing up free care bills the STATE has to pay Translate "the STATE" into "people who have their shit together." Seriously, 10% of the people in this country contribute all of what's of value. The other 90% work in fast food, are cube slaves, etc. who kind of do an OK job when bribed and threatened. EUGENICS NOW ;) |
| ______________________________ [Jan 10,2009 11:46am - pam ""] Conservationist said: pam said:A republican governor comes up with and proposes a plan to prevent illegals and other shitheads from ringing up free care bills the STATE has to pay Translate "the STATE" into "people who have their shit together." And/or People who belong in this country. So Manny Landscaper can't go to the emergency room for free anymore? TOO BAD. Apply for insurance, we give it away free to illegals anyway. See? I'm not that much of a pinko. |