As the regulators for the new healthcare plan meet today, the public is coming to terms with what critics have known all along. The sub-committee released some of the projected premiums for low-income citizens and concluded that for many in poverty, the premiums will be a higher percentage of their income than it will be for many middle- and upper-class families.
       “We think that the premium contributions are higher than what we think is affordable” for certain demographics, said John McDonough, executive director of Health Care for All.
       Under the proposal, some families earning between double and triple the federal poverty level could devote up to seven percent of their income for health care, said McDonough.
       Still, the subcommittee of the Health Insurance Connector board called the numbers a “good and practical starting point.”
       If a family of four earning about $30,000 cannot pay the expected $200 or more per month premium, they will lose their personal exemption on their tax returns the following year. For many families, they count on that tax refund to simple survive.
       The law states that individuals must have insurance by July 1, 2007 or pay the income tax penalties.