The Massachusetts Insurance Connection (MIC) provides payment of health insurance premiums for patients with AIDS or an HIV+ diagnosis with related diseases who have had to stop working because of their illness. This program pays for the health insurance premiums for a medical insurance plan being continued under COBRA or for a Medicare supplement policy. MIC will maintain coverage under COBRA for a family plan, as well, and will even provide this assistance if the patient's unaffected spouse had been the primary subscriber to the medical plan. Benefits are extended to both group and non-group insurance, thus helping the self-employed.

In order to qualify for the program, the family income of the patient may not exceed 300% of the Federal Poverty Level. Furthermore, the patient must be considered disabled by the standards of the Social Security Administration to be deemed eligible. If the applicant for MIC has not been approved for Disability, he/she must be in the process of applying for SSI/SSDI.

In addition to a completed form, the patient needs to provide a letter from a licensed doctor documenting the diagnosis of AIDS or presence of HIV with signs of opportunistic infections which accompany the decreased immunity experienced by infected patients. (Opportunistic infections include microbiological organisms which reside quiescent in the body's normal flora, but aggressively attack the system of an HIV+ patient, e.g., Toxoplasmosis, pneumocystis carinii and candidiasias of the upper airway.) Once MIC receives the application, the patient is granted 45 days of presumptive eligibility until income verifications and a determination from Social Security in regard to the disability can be provided.

If the patient is considered eligible for MIC, he/she may receive continuation of COBRA, premium-free, until the 29th month after termination from work. In order to make this process go smoothly, it is important for the patient to send a copy of the SSA disability letter to his/her former employer within 60 days after the determination and within the initial 18 months of coverage under COBRA. MIC therefore guarantees uninterrupted medical coverage for those who qualify, as Medicare benefits would commence 30 months following the onset of the disability. At this point, the program would offer payment of health insurance supplemental to Medicare, such as Medex Gold, which would provide prescription drug coverage.

Applications for MIC can be accessed by calling DMA at 617-210-5320. Clients are screened for MassHealth and HDAP at that time.