Mass. Families Faced with Hefty Taxes for Not Carrying Health Insurance. Find your Mass. Health Insurance Fee for Non-Compliance.

A call last evening from a family in Massachusetts speaks volumes about the Commonwealths version of Universal Health Care. The call to this blog was one of frustration. The family, middle class, and struggling with a variety of increases in utilities, etc. al due to the round of tax increases passed in the Commonwealth in July, expressed frustration over the fact that they owe the Commonwealth $1100 in fees for non-compliance with Mandatory Health Care. The fact that a policy for a family in their income bracket is, according to the Commonewalth Connector, has a monthly premium of $34, however that does not always include the reality of every day expenses and or other factors that make the $4,100 annual investment in health insurance doable. The Commonwealth then, assesses a fee, in this case $1,100, which is due April 15th. The question poised and answered at the same time: What will happen to that money collected? It will go to those who don’t work for a living!

What should happen, is those fees assessed for families caught in this economic morass due to being taxes left, right and center, should be used for that family to purchase affordable health care, or at the very least credited to their health coverage. One wonders how much the Commonwealth will make at tax time with “fees” from the Commonwealth Connector which is deep in the “red”, and how those fees will be applied, with so many individuals and families unable to afford the steep premiums with few options given to the Citizens of the Commonwealth. If there were choices such as catastrophic coverage, it would be a perfect system, as it now stands, only a select few carriers are allowed to operate within the state, and mandates have caused private pay plans to increase by 11% driving more into non-compliance.

For citizens of the Commonwealth who may not be sure what fee they can expect to pay for non-compliance, the rule is rather simple. The Department of Revenue has a table here that taxpayers can use as a guideline to find their “fee”.
First one finds their income based on the federal poverty guidelines and then the one will be assessed. For example: A family of 3 earning $54,000 is considered to be at the top of the heap in Massachusetts – this is pre-tax income. The Penalty for this family is: $1116 due and payable on April 15th.