Beginning in July 2010, the government will operate a website   with information to help people learn about health insurance and health care reform. When health insurance exchanges become active in 2014, this website will be part of the system people use to shop for and buy health insurance.

Under health care reform, all health plans must cover certain minimum benefits, including ambulatory and emergency services, hospitalizations, maternity and newborn care and others. The new law also establishes four new categories of benefit design – platinum, gold, silver and bronze. Each category of plans will provide a different level of coverage for the same set of minimum benefits. The levels of coverage, which take into account the effect of different deductible amounts, copayments and coinsurance, are defined as the percentage of a member's total expected medical costs that will be paid.

When state exchanges are established online beginning in 2014, they will provide a new way to shop for health insurance. Even though most Americans will still get coverage under their employers' insurance plans, this will represent a big change for individuals buying coverage on their own. Exactly how insurance exchanges will work is unknown at this time, but some people think the experience will be similar to how travel plans can be made on websites like Orbitz^® or Expedia^®.