A plan to ensure that every resident of Massachusetts has health care could result in nonsmokers paying less for coverage than smokers, the Boston Globe reported April 16.

The state's new healthcare law would allow private health insurers to charge smokers more, while also allowing discounts for residents who lose weight and exercise. The plan also calls for spending $7 million annually to provide smoking-cessation help to Medicaid recipients, and giving discounts to Medicaid patients who quit smoking or get cancer screenings.

The discounts are part of the plan's overall goal of getting people to take more responsibility for their own health in order to cut costs. The law requires all Massachusetts residents to have health insurance by 2007.

"We want to discourage unhealthy habits like smoking that only add to the cost of healthcare and obviously have a negative impact on the health of individuals," said Sen. Richard T. Moore, (D-Uxbridge), co-chair of the legislature's Joint Committee on Health Care Financing.

James Roosevelt Jr., CEO of Tufts Health Plan, said the insurer is still evaluating the law. "Obviously we want to provide every incentive for people not to smoke," he said. "We cover treatment for smoking addiction and smoking programs. We need to figure out whether the most effective approach is to make tools for quitting smoking available to people or to penalize them on the premiums."

The state Division of Insurance still must draft regulations to implement the law, including how to determine if a person smokes and therefore is subject to higher insurance premiums.