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When the Affordable Care Act’s “individual mandate” takes effect in October, millions of Americans will be hard pressed to select the best health insurance coverage for their needs, unless relatively simple design features are incorporated into the state and federal websites they will use to choose a policy. Smart design of those websites, the so-called health insurance exchanges at the heart of Obamacare, could save consumers and the government more than $9 billion annually.

Tens of thousands of people flocked to the new online marketplace this past week, in hopes of signing up for coverage that could kick in as early as New Year's Day. The federal website is working better, but as more people get through the initial application process, they may then face a possibly daunting decision: which of all the plans should they choose?An Affordable Care Act 'promise': competition

New online marketplaces don't do enough to let consumers weigh their options, experts sayBy Karen PallaritoHealthDay ReporterFRIDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- You have to wade through a lot of insurance jargon and be a skilled number-cruncher to choose the right health insurance plan on the new health exchanges, health literacy and consumer decision-making experts say.

Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY It's important consumers check pharmacy benefits in their health insurance plans.Premiums and deductibles tend to get the most attention when it comes to health insurance. Drug coverage deserves far more than it gets. And that's true whether you're shopping for insurance on one of the new health care exchanges or dealing with open enrollment at your employer.

Jayne O'Donnell, USA TODAY David Isenstadt has spent the past six weeks working 12-hour days, seven days a week, trying to reach all of his insurance clients with canceled policies to switch them to new policies. Now this.President Obama's announcement Thursday that consumers can keep insurance plans that don't meet the Affordable Care Act for a year will only create chaos, insurance brokers, regulators and carriers say.

Jayne O'Donnell and Paul Overberg, USA TODAY USA TODAY analysis shows metal level assigned to insurance plans on exchange website are often meaningless when it comes to price. The bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels that plans are grouped into on the federal health insurance exchange are often meaningless when it comes to price, a USA TODAY analysis shows.

Fola Akinnibi, USA TODAYAbout one in 10 Americans -- 9% -- say The Affordable Care Act has improved their health insurance situation in the past year, according to a new survey by Bankrate.com.The telephone survey asked a representative sample of 1,001 Americans about their knowledge of and feelings about the law that mandates health care insurances for all Americans in coming years.

By Tom RisenGoing through health care plans at work can be complicated, so Americans might accidentally pay for $9 billion more in health care benefits than they need when new state health care exchanges open on Tuesday as part of the Affordable Health Care Act, a new study shows.

By News Staff

By Jessica Zigmond