Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 111, § 116

Reasonable expenses incurred by boards of health or by the commonwealth in making the provision required by law for persons infected with smallpox or other disease dangerous to the public health, other than tuberculosis, shall be paid by such persons, or, if such person is a minor, by his parents, if he or they are able to pay; otherwise, by the town where he has a residence upon the approval of the bill by the board of health of such town or by the department of public health of such town or by the department of public health when such person is determined to be a chronically nonresident person.

For the purposes of this section the term “chronically nonresident person” means a person who evidences by his past conduct an inability or unwillingness to establish and maintain a residency with any degree of permanency and whose instability and general living standards in exposing himself and others to infection makes him a special problem for control in the commonwealth of smallpox or other disease dangerous to the public health.