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Massachusetts · licensed here · 2026 plan year

What Are the Massachusetts Health Connector Income Limits for 2026? ConnectorCare, MassHealth, and Tax Credit Lines by Family Size

Written and reviewed by Dick Tracy, licensed health insurance broker (NPN 20414610) · Published September 18, 2026

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For 2026 coverage, the Massachusetts Health Connector gives help to households from 100% to 400% of the poverty level: up to $62,600 for one person and $128,600 for a family of four. In Massachusetts that help goes further than in almost any other state I work in, because everyone who qualifies for the federal premium tax credit also gets ConnectorCare, the state's own layer on top: no deductible, and premiums that start at $0, $53, $103, $152, or $235 a month per person depending on income. One dollar over 400% and all of it is gone. The enhanced federal credits expired December 31, 2025, and the state's pilot that reached 500% of poverty is not offered in 2026. Adults under the MassHealth line ($21,228 for one person and $43,896 for four on the state's chart) go to MassHealth, and children are covered by MassHealth up to 300% of poverty ($99,000 for a family of four). Every line for households of one to eight is below, then the doors if you are over the top one. I educate, you decide.

The full Massachusetts income chart for 2026

Two programs, two poverty tables. ConnectorCare and the tax credit for 2026 coverage run on the 2025 poverty guidelines ($15,650 for one person plus $5,500 each); the Health Connector's own subsidy chart is headed "2025 Yearly Income Guidelines" for that reason. MassHealth runs on the 2026 guidelines ($15,960 plus $5,680), on income standards that took effect March 1, 2026. One wrinkle on the adult line: the state's chart prints 133% of poverty, and the MassHealth regulations then subtract five percentage points of the poverty level from your countable income, which is why you will see 138% quoted elsewhere. The state does not publish a 138% dollar chart, so I show the 133% figures it does publish. If your income is within a few hundred dollars of that line, apply and let the state decide.

Sources: Massachusetts Health Connector, 2026 consumer guide to subsidies; 2026 MassHealth Income Standards and Federal Poverty Guidelines, effective March 1, 2026; Health Connector, federal poverty level charts. The ConnectorCare plan type bands on the 2025 guidelines: 2A is 100% to 150% ($15,650 to $23,475 for one person), 2B to 200% ($31,300), 3A to 250% ($39,125), 3B to 300% ($46,950), and 3C to 400% ($62,600). Young adults 19 and 20 qualify for MassHealth up to 150%. For 2027 coverage the tax credit table moves to the 2026 guidelines: $63,840 for one and $132,000 for four at the cliff.

ConnectorCare: one of the richest state subsidies in the country, and where it stops

ConnectorCare is a state subsidy stacked on top of the federal premium tax credit. For 2026, everyone who qualifies for the federal credit also qualifies for ConnectorCare, so the income range is the same: 100% to 400% of poverty. The plans have no deductible, low copays, and a medical out-of-pocket maximum of $750 for one person in plan types 2A and 2B and $1,500 in the 3 series. The lowest-cost premium per person runs $0 in 2A, $53 in 2B, $103 in 3A, $152 in 3B, and $235 in 3C. In January 2026 the state added $250 million, for $600 million total, to cushion the loss of the enhanced federal credits for roughly 270,000 people. The Governor's office gave two examples: a Fall River family of four earning $75,000 pays $206 a month instead of $452, and a single person in Holyoke earning $40,000 pays $152 instead of $286.

Now the part people miss. From 2024 through 2025 Massachusetts ran a pilot that stretched ConnectorCare to 500% of poverty. The Legislature extended the pilot for another year, but the Health Connector says plainly that the 400% to 500% plan type, 3D, is not offered in 2026 because the enhanced federal credits expired. So the cliff in Massachusetts is a real one. A single person at $62,600 can pay as little as $235 a month with no deductible. At $62,601 the same person pays the full premium, and if they took advance credits all year and their final income lands over 400%, the 2026 rules make them pay all of it back. Massachusetts has no reinsurance program either.

Sources: Health Connector, ConnectorCare plans; Health Connector, updates for 2026 and 2027; Health Connector, Governor's announcement, January 8, 2026.

What Health Connector plans cost in 2026

Source: KFF, 2026 benchmark premiums.

Massachusetts merges its individual and small-group markets into one pool, and the Division of Insurance approved an average increase of 11.5% for 2026 across about 721,000 people: Blue Cross Blue Shield HMO Blue 11.9%, WellSense 13.6%, Fallon 7.2%, Harvard Pilgrim 12.6%, Health New England 9.5%, Mass General Brigham Health Plan 7.6%, Tufts Health Public Plans 11.5%, and UnitedHealthcare 9.4%. All eight carriers stayed. That is a smaller increase than most of my states, and the benchmark silver at $494 a month is well under the national $625. The strain shows up somewhere else. The Health Connector finished open enrollment with 391,744 people, slightly up, but the number paying full price nearly doubled, from 49,399 to 96,279, while ConnectorCare enrollment fell from 331,725 to 274,876. By mid-February WBUR reported enrollment down to about 352,000, with more than 22,000 cancellations and about 35,000 people dropped for not paying.

Sources: Massachusetts Division of Insurance, merged market summary of approved 2026 rates; ACA Signups, Health Connector 2026 open enrollment figures; WBUR, February 13, 2026.

MassHealth: adults, children, and the plan with no income cap for kids

MassHealth is Massachusetts Medicaid and the children's health program in one. Adults 21 to 64 qualify for MassHealth CarePlus, and parents for MassHealth Standard, at the adult line in the table. Children 1 to 18 qualify for MassHealth Standard up to 150% of poverty, and infants and pregnant women up to 200%. From there up to 300% ($99,000 for a family of four) children go to MassHealth Family Assistance, with monthly premiums of $13.20 per child between 150% and 200%, $22 between 200% and 250%, and $30.80 between 250% and 300%, each with a family cap of three times that amount. Those premiums are waived when a parent is enrolled in and paying for a ConnectorCare plan. Above 300%, an uninsured child of any income can be covered by the Children's Medical Security Plan: $36.45 a month per family up to 400% of poverty and $70.40 per child above that. It is a limited benefit, not full insurance, but it means no child in Massachusetts has to be uncovered because of income.

Sources: 2026 MassHealth income standards; MassHealth premium schedule for members.

MassHealth changes coming October 2026 and January 1, 2027

Massachusetts has posted how the federal changes will land, and the state's own estimates are blunt. On October 1, 2026, some lawfully present immigrants lose full MassHealth; the state says up to 7,300 members may be affected. On January 1, 2027, work requirements and six-month eligibility checks begin for adults 19 to 64 who qualify on income alone, and the state estimates about 175,000 people will lose coverage. To comply you need 80 hours a month of work, volunteering, or job training, or at least half-time school, or income of at least $580 a month. Members are checked at their first renewal in 2027 and must show one qualifying month since the last renewal; new applicants must show it for the month before they apply. Exemptions include parents and caregivers of a child under 14. Renewal notices come in a blue envelope. On the Health Connector side, starting January 1, 2027 most lawfully present immigrants other than green card holders lose the tax credit and ConnectorCare; the Connector estimates about 35,000 current enrollees are affected. If you are near the MassHealth line, a missed six-month renewal can put you on the Health Connector mid-year. Losing MassHealth is a qualifying event, so report the change the month it happens.

Sources: MassHealth, federal updates and impact; MassHealth, new work and education requirements; Health Connector, updates.

Open enrollment and special enrollment on the Health Connector

Open enrollment for 2027 coverage runs October 23, 2026 through January 23, 2027. The deadline in Massachusetts is always the 23rd: enroll and pay by December 23 for coverage that starts January 1, and by January 23 for February 1. Outside the window you need a qualifying event, generally reported within 60 days, with one Massachusetts exception that matters: if you newly qualify for ConnectorCare, or are applying for the first time and qualify, you can enroll any time of year. That means a drop in income that brings you under 400% of poverty mid-year opens the door. MassHealth takes applications year-round. Dropping a plan for nonpayment does not qualify. The dates for every state I work in are on my 2027 dates page.

Sources: Health Connector, when is open enrollment; Health Connector, special enrollment periods.

Over the line in Massachusetts? It works a lot like New York, plus a penalty

Massachusetts is built like New York, where I sit. Every individual plan is guaranteed issue at the same price regardless of health, no carrier sells short-term plans here, and there is no medically underwritten private plan to price a healthy household on its own health. Massachusetts also has the oldest state mandate in the country. For 2026, an adult over 400% of poverty who goes without coverage that meets the state's Minimum Creditable Coverage standard owes up to $211 a month, $2,532 for the year, on the state tax return, and a married couple owes both. So going bare is not a free move, and neither is buying something that does not count. For a household over $128,600, the door I open first for a healthy owner is a pre-established ERISA group plan: group rates, no payroll or employees required, and a true national PPO network of the PHCS and MultiPlan type, which matters if you want care outside one hospital system. The second door is the same Health Connector plans bought on or off the exchange, which is the right call for anyone with a health condition. The third is the supplemental layer for the deductible. On the call I tell you exactly how each option sits with the state mandate before you buy anything. I walk through all three on the Massachusetts self-employed guide. Massachusetts' median household income is $104,828, so a lot of ordinary two-earner families are standing close to the $128,600 line. If you are within $10,000 of it, a Solo 401(k) or SEP contribution, run with your tax professional, is the first lever to pull.

Sources: Massachusetts Department of Revenue, TIR 26-1, mandate penalties for 2026; healthinsurance.org, Massachusetts short-term rules; Census Bureau, Household Income in States and Metropolitan Areas: 2024.

Common questions about Massachusetts Health Connector income limits