SECTION 78. Employer healthcare coverage form

(a) The division shall create an employer healthcare coverage form. Every employer with 6 or more employees, doing business in the commonwealth, shall annually complete and submit the form under oath. The form shall indicate whether the employer has offered to pay or arrange for the purchase of health care insurance and information about such health care insurance such as the premium cost, benefits offered, cost sharing details, eligibility criteria and other information deemed necessary by the division; provided, that the information collected through the form shall not be used to deny or terminate MassHealth eligibility for non-disabled persons who would otherwise qualify for a program of medical benefits pursuant to this chapter who have access to employer sponsored health insurance.

[Second paragraph of subsection (a) effective until December 31, 2019. For text effective December 31, 2019, see below.]

The division may make arrangements with other agencies of the commonwealth, including the department of unemployment assistance and the department of revenue, to assist with the administration of this section. Employers shall provide supplemental information that is necessary to implement said section 189A of said chapter 149 to the division or its designee, upon request. An employer receiving information that identifies, or could be used to identify, a MassHealth member or recipient of subsidized health insurance shall not use or disclose such information except as authorized by the division.

[Second paragraph of subsection (a) as amended by 2017, 110, Sec. 13 effective December 31, 2019. See, 2017, 110, Sec. 57. For text effective until December 31, 2019, see above.]

The division may make arrangements with other agencies of the commonwealth, including the department of unemployment assistance and the department of revenue, to assist with the administration of this section. Employers shall provide supplemental information that is deemed necessary by the division or its designee upon request by the division. An employer receiving information that identifies, or could be used to identify, a MassHealth member or recipient of subsidized health insurance shall not use or disclose such information except as authorized by the division.

[Subsection (b) effective until December 31, 2019. For text effective December 31, 2019, see below.]

(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, information reported under subsection (a) that identifies individual employees by name or health insurance status or is protected health information shall not be a public record under clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 or chapter 66. Reported information may be exchanged among the executive office of health and human services, the commonwealth health insurance connector authority, the department of unemployment assistance, the center for health information and analysis and the department of revenue as necessary to implement section 189A of chapter 149. An employer who knowingly falsifies or fails to file any information required by this section, or its implementing regulation, shall be subject to a penalty of not less than $1,000 or more than $5,000 for each violation.

[Subsection (b) as amended by 2017, 110, Sec. 14 effective December 31, 2019. See, 2017, 110, Sec. 57. For text effective until December 31, 2019, see above.]

(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, information reported under subsection (a) that identifies individual employees by name or health insurance status or is protected health information shall not be a public record under clause Twenty-sixth of section 7 of chapter 4 or chapter 66. An employer who knowingly falsifies or fails to file any information required by this section, or its implementing regulation, shall be subject to a penalty of not less than $1,000 or more than $5,000 for each violation.