July 26 (Bloomberg) — The fresh Massachusetts health plan, the first in the U.S. require all residents to have medical insurance, won the sanction of the federal government, helping to make sure medical coverage for the state’s poorest citizens. 

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt today signed a waiver that would permit Massachusetts to receive $385 million in federal funding to help pay for the care of the poor and allow low-income workers to purchase insurance. 

The legislation, signed into law in April by Republican Governor Mitt Romney, was passed under force from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The agency said they will cut the $385 million allotment for care of the poor if the state didn’t pass reforms by July 1. The bill is now sleet as a model for other U.S. states. 

“This is serious innovation,'’ Leavitt said today during a press conference in Boston. “There are serious ideas being tried here that we’ll all learn from.'’ The federal funding would permit Massachusetts to help about 200,000 residents buy health care, Romney said.