Massachusetts § 2B - Migrant farm workers; compulsory health insurance

§ 2B. Migrant farm workers; compulsory health insurance

Section 2B. Any agricultural employer or grower who employs a migrant farm worker not under a contract approved by the Federal Government or a political sub-division thereof shall provide for said worker, after ten days of employment, health insurance coverage which shall provide him the cost of hospital room and board not to exceed the sum of forty-five dollars multiplied by the number of days of hospital confinement, or the sum of three thousand one hundred and fifty dollars, whichever is lesser, the cost of hospital services and supplies not to exceed the sum of four hundred and fifty dollars with out-patient laboratory and X-ray examination fees not to exceed the sum of fifty dollars for injuries resulting from an accident and fifty dollars for sicknesses suffered by him within each twelve-month period he is so employed, surgical fees not to exceed the sum of four hundred dollars for each operation in accordance with a schedule of fees contained in the policy covering the types of surgery, in-hospital physicians fees not to exceed the sum of seven dollars multiplied by the number of days of hospital confinement, or the sum of four hundred and ninety dollars, whichever is lesser. There shall be withheld from each weekly payment of wages or salary from said worker an amount equal to forty per cent of the insurance premium payable on said policy, the employer to contribute the remaining sixty per cent. Said employer shall then pay the entire premium when due to the insurer. If an employer or grower fails to withhold from such worker's wages the weekly sum as aforesaid, he shall be liable for the payment of the entire premium. If the worker is disabled for a full week and is unable to work for said week the employer shall pay the entire cost of the premium for that week.

For the purposes of this section the term ''migrant farm worker'' shall mean an employee who seasonally travels interstate to gain employment and lives in a labor camp provided by the employer. Said term shall not include students regularly enrolled in institutions of secondary and higher learning nor shall it include a worker who is covered by a family medical plan.