CMS Awards $88.5M Loan to Massachusetts' First State-Owned Healthcare Plan

Tags: Affordable Care Act | member-owned insurance | Minuteman Health Initiative | Tufts Medical Center

Tufts Medical Center in Boston has been awarded an $88.5 million loan by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid to develop the state's only member-owned health insurance plan, according to The Boston Globe.

The nonprofit Minuteman Health Initiative should start in January 2014 for residents in eastern and central Massachusetts. Proponents say the structure would lower healthcare costs. Its products will be sold to individuals and small businesses.

With this new initiative, CMS has approved 20 "consumer operated and oriented" plans as part of the Affordable Care Act. The program is open only to new insurers not licensed before July 2009 and requires start-up loans be paid back within 15 years.

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