Apparently Massachusetts has a rather unique free insurance program called Masshealth and Commonwealth. I don't know much about Masshealth since I'm under Commonwealth, specifically the Neighborhood Health Plan type 1.
What this means is that as long as I don't make more than $10,000 a year (even if I get a fulltime job for a single week it counts) then I qualify for free coverage, INCLUDING dental! Now the medical stuff is awesome too, copays never cost more than at most $10, but are usually free. Prescriptions never cost more than $3, and all prescriptions are covered.
There are lots of doctors on the plan locally, mostly from a quality hospital called Lahey. If I need to see my PCP for even a basic thing I only need to wait at most a week.
But the dental is what's most important. My teeth are absolutely horrible. I'm getting about $10,000 of work COMPLETELY FREE! I could cry at how wonderful this is! If it weren't for this, I'd probably loose all my teeth within 10 years and I'm only 21!
There is no limit on how much dental work I can get, although some things are not covered, what's important usually is. It's a life-saver!

The catch still being that I can't get a full-time job or I lose it, but I can't even begin to hope that job insurance would even come slightly close to what I need. But still, it's unbelievable that this program exists. I know people who work full-time for years and never get insurance this good! Thank you Massachusetts!

How many people do you live with?

I'm glad you qualify for this. How does this plan work for people who make more money, do they go by a pay scale?

That's great to hear that they are providing full coverage to people like yourself who really need it. One thing to keep in mind regarding the dental insurance is that it is really worthwhile for you to take better care of your teeth once you have the work done on them. I have a friend who was in a similar situation financially and he didn't do much to keep his teeth (or rest of his body, for that matter) clean and it ended up causing a lot of harm in the long run. Only takes 5-10 minutes twice a day to brush, floss, and use some mouthwash :)

Nothing in this world is free, you can thank the Taxpayers for your coverage. And I hope you don't lack the ambition to try to do anything with your life because it will really suck to make less than $10k/year the rest of it.

Well, yes, but not from individual taxpayers. Not from the income or sales taxes.

It's actually paid for by assessments on insurance companies and hospitals for what used to be called the Free Care Pool for uninsured patients. That money is now re-directed to MassHealth, which is free care for those who meet poverty guidelines, and to Commonwealth Connector which is subsidized health insurance for those with incomes above the Federal Poverty level.

Most states and the federal government don't already have this kind of funded free care pool for the uninsured therefore it will be not be so easy to follow the Massachusetts model without also finding a funding source such as raising taxes.

I love how proud people are to be living in "poverty". I pay for my insurance every paycheck and not to mention co-pays and deductible, presriptions..I sure wish everything was free for me..Maybe I should have some kids and get it free to. What is the point of working and supporting myself when the everyone else could be doing so!!!! I want to live in povery..it sure looks good to me!

Wish I had unlimited dental. Even w/ lots of copays my husband and one child exceeded their $1500/year maximum (and it wasn't for ortho care) ... we had huge dental bills last year and are still paying ... and it hurts, given that it cost twice as much to heat our house in the 2006-2007 heating season as the year before ... and will cost even MORE this year.

We live in Mass, earn well above the federal poverty level, and pay for our insurance ... but we count every penny!!!

Actually MassHealth is the state's name for it's Medicaid program.

CommonwealthCare was designed as a 'safety net' for people who are working but uninsured. There is a sliding scale and different schdules of co-pays based on income/family size.

CommonwealthChoice lets people with no insurance join a larger group to get decent priced, unsubsidized insurance without having to pay non-group prices.