In Massachusetts, health insurance is mandatory - or you will be fined when you file taxes. Of course everyone wants healthcare, so on the surface it's not too onerous to say that it's "mandatory". But, if you're not covered by an employer plan (self-employed, small employer, laid off), then you must obtain health insurance on your own. It is rather insane to tie health benefits to employment when employment changes routinely - whereas healthcare is something that you want to be continuous, permanent, and stable over time.
== MassHealth ==
[[File:MassHealth overview.png.png|alt=MassHealth overview|thumb|418x418px|Overview of MassHealth]]
To obtain your own healthcare insurance, you can get it through '''Medicaid''' and/or the [https://www.healthcare.gov/medicaid-chip/childrens-health-insurance-program/ '''Children's Health Insurance Program'''] (CHIP) ''if you qualify''. Both of those federal programs are known at the state level as '''MassHealth'''. Although these are Federal programs, they are run and administered at the state level and so costs are different in each state.
One of the nuttiest things about MassHealth is that you can get some services through MassHealth (e.g. long term services and supports; behavioral health like psychological study) that are '''not''' '''available''' through commercial insurance. So, you can find yourself trying to qualify for Medicaid or CHIP just to get services you desperately need - but get denied or find the process so lengthy and complicated that it doesn't serve the need. Getting these services at all can be extremely difficult, very expensive and definitely complicated and delayed. This is why so many kids have "meds" - it is super expensive (thousands of dollars out of pocket ''if'' you can find the service) to figure out what might be going on in your adolescent child's developing brain, but super easy to get a prescription and "see what happens".
== Health Connector ==
Whether or not you qualify for health insurance under Medicaid and/or CHIP, you may also need to obtain health insurance through a health insurance '''Marketplace'''. In Massachusetts, that marketplace is called '''Health Connector'''. Note: small employers with less than 50 employees can offer health and dental plans through 'Health Connector for Business'.
AAll these programs are combined in Massachusetts under https://mahealthconnector.org
lthese programs are combined in Massachusetts under https://mahealthconnector.org In order to determine eligibility (every year)
In order to determine eligibility (every year)
[[File:MassHealth overview.png.png|alt=MassHealth overview|thumb|418x418px|Overview of MassHealth]]
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*Your hospital and doctors know more about you than you do.