New Healthcare Assessment for Massachusetts Employers
We want to make you aware of an important law that will impact Massachusetts-based employers beginning January 1, 2018. Under a law signed recently by Governor Baker, employers with six or more employees will begin paying a new health care assessment to support the Commonwealth’s Medicaid program, MassHealth.
Highlights of the new law
- It increases the existing Employer Medical Assistance Contribution (EMAC) from $51 per employee to $76.50 per employee.
- It establishes a new assessment on employers for any employee who enrolls in MassHealth or subsidized insurance coverage offered through the Massachusetts Health Connector. The assessment is $750 per employee, per year.
- Employers will most likely pay the assessment on a quarterly basis–just like they do for unemployment insurance.
- Employers who hire any worker for at least one day during any 13 weeks in a calendar year, and who pay at least $1,500 in wages per quarter, will be required to contribute.
The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance and the Health Connector are still finalizing regulations to implement the assessment. The regulations are expected to be completed before the end of the year. The assessment is expected to generate $200 million annually; it is scheduled to end on December 31, 2019.
Law also reduces unemployment contribution rates
To help offset the impact of the new assessment on employers, the law also reduces Massachusetts unemployment contribution rates for two years. For more information on the employer contribution schedule, visit the link below: