Last modified: Sunday, June 3, 2007 11:37 PM EDT A break on health coverage requirement BY TED NESI SUN CHRONICLE STAFF Massachusetts residents can wait until November to obtain health care coverage and still avoid penalties under the state's sweeping new health care reform law, officials say, giving recent college graduates more time to find employment before the government mandate takes effect. Individuals must be insured by Dec. 31 - not the widely-publicized official deadline of July 1 - because the mandate will be enforced through a question on next year's state tax return forms that will ask residents to certify that they had health coverage on the last day of 2007. Those who say they didn't will lose their $219 personal tax exemption, said Dick Powers, a spokesman for the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector, the new state agency charged with implementing the law. Powers also said it will be too late to sign up for a plan on Dec. 31, because a resident must be insured on that day, and there is a lag between the day a person signs up for health insurance and the first day they are covered. Residents "should really try and get it done by Thanksgiving," Powers suggested, adding that Nov. 28 is the last possible day to sign up for one of the Connector-approved plans and still be insured by Dec. 31. When Gov. Mitt Romney signed the health care bill in April 2006, many analysts hailed its requirement that every resident buy health insurance. That mandate was aimed especially at young adults, and men in particular. In the past, a significant number of men chose to take their chances and go without insurance to save money, analysts said, and by expanding the pool of the insured to include more young people in good health, the average cost of coverage would fall. "It's wonderful to be young and healthy, but you're never going to know what's going to come in your direction when you step off that curb," Powers said. "And also, having healthy young people in the pool makes the premiums lower for everybody else in the pool." Another option for a young person is to pay to stay on a parent's health insurance plan, Powers said. The new law requires that Massachusetts-based businesses allow young people to remain on a parent's family plan for two extra years, or until they reach age 26, whichever comes first. Still, widespread confusion remains among young people about what they are required to do, and the deadline for doing it. A report released by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation to mark the law's one-year anniversary noted, "The Connector has a significant marketing and communications challenge to reach and educate uninsured individuals." Carlen Adler, an Attleboro resident who graduated last month from Allegheny College in Meadville, Penn., and is currently uninsured, said she knew almost nothing about the law before she returned home from school and began to hear rumors. "I wouldn't have heard about it if I hadn't gone out to lunch with some friends who happened to mention it," she said. "I would assume that a lot of people still don't know, because I didn't get anything in the mail about it." But Adler said she hopes to find a job soon that will offer her full benefits, including health care. Lindsey Tucker, who coordinates the Affordable Care Today (ACT) Coalition for the Boston-based advocacy group Health Care for All, said that community organizations and the state must do more to inform citizens about the law. "One of the concerns of the ACT Coalition in general is that a lot of the public doesn't yet know about health reform," Tucker said. "The Connector and the plans themselves are ramping up marketing right now. We think the marketing is great, and we're hopeful that there will be more programming and money for on-the-ground outreach." A variety of strategies are being used to get the message out to young people about the new law. Ecu-Health Care, a non-profit in Western Massachusetts, has created a MySpace page with information about the legislation's requirements. The Connector has partnered with the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park and NESN to run commercials during Sox games and set up informational kiosks at the ballpark. Tucker said that Health Care for All and the other groups in the ACT Coalition are pleased so far. "We are thrilled with the progress that has been made, and we think things are definitely moving in the right direction," she said. "It took a long time to pass health reform, and it's going to take a long time to get it going." Adler, for one, agreed that the idea behind the bill is positive. "I think it's good to kind of force people (to get coverage), as long as the state is helping people out who it might be a hardship for, otherwise," she said. And Adler added that she supports the goal of universal health care. "I think if Canada has it, we should have it," she said. For additional information, go to www.mahealthconnector.org or call toll free 1-877-MA-ENROLL.