Thanks to federal subsidies, as many as 6 million people who are uninsured, and another 1 million with individual plans, may qualify for "free" health insurance under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, according to an analysis by the consulting giant McKinsey.

But free, in this case, might not be as cheap as it sounds.

MoneyWatch's Ray Martin, a financial advisor and commentator, ran some numbers the other day and concluded that "free" coverage will likely cost most folks more over time than if they chose to pay a monthly premium.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.