Michelle Andrews

What a difference a day makes. Consumers who buy a health policy good for only 364 days might save hundreds of dollars in premiums, but they could also find themselves without important benefits and charged a penalty for not having insurance next year.

Under the health care law, in January ...

The health insurance marketplaces are finally open, though technical problems have hindered sign-ups.

With the deadlines for having health insurance looming, people want details about the available plans and access to health savings accounts. Some also want to know about penalties if they don't buy insurance. Here are some ...

One of the most far-reaching provisions of the federal health overhaul prohibits insurers from refusing to cover people who are sick or charging them more for policies.

Still, for people with serious medical conditions, the online health insurance marketplaces present new wrinkles that could have significant financial impact.

Obviously, premium ...

If the volume of reader email is any indication, people are finally thinking hard about how the health care overhaul will affect them.

Online health insurance marketplaces will open in less than a month. Some people who get insurance through employers want to know if it's OK to buy a ...

We've been fielding questions about the rollout of the federal health law. With the health insurance marketplaces, or exchanges, set to open in a little over a month, the questions about how they'll work are pouring in.

Here's one with a twist we hadn't thought of.

I'm not living with ...

With the opening of online health insurance marketplaces a little over a month away, I've been receiving lots of questions about how they'll work.

Here's one that deals with the issue of getting the subsidy payments out quickly for consumers.

It sounds like people who buy health insurance on ...

Workers at small companies are generally starved for choice when it comes to health insurance.

If their employers offer health coverage at all — and only about a third of companies with fewer than 50 workers do — chances are there will be just one plan on the menu.

Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that the federal ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, federal agencies have to figure out the regulations that govern everything from immigration permission to income taxes.

Advocates are waiting for the Internal Revenue Service to decide on details about same-sex marriage. Will ...

The online health insurance marketplaces can't open soon enough for Chris and Kristi Petersen. Enrolled in the Iowa high-risk insurance pool because insurers on the private market won't cover them, the couple pays more than $1,300 each month for a plan with a $2,500 annual deductible and a 20 percent ...

Most smokers want to quit. But how to nudge them in that direction is up for debate.

The health law allows new individual and small group health plans to charge smokers up to 50 percent higher premiums next year.

Small group plans (at companies that employ up to 100 ...

There are two kinds of financial help for people planning to enroll in the online health insurance marketplaces that will open this fall. One could put people at risk of having to pay some of the money back, while the other won't.

That's one big difference between tax credits ...

Beginning in 2014, most people, including students, will have to have health insurance, whether or not they are claimed as a dependent on their parents' tax returns.

The federal health law says if they don't, they or their parents will face penalties.

While expansion of coverage under the health ...

Women of all ages will soon be able to buy emergency contraceptives over the counter without a prescription, now that the Obama administration has decided to stop fighting a judge's order to make the drugs more easily available.

But better access to emergency contraception doesn't necessarily reduce rates of unintended ...

Who are you going to call for help when it comes to figuring out your health insurance?

Next year, when insurance marketplaces open under the federal health law and many job-based and individual plans have to meet new standards for coverage and costs, chances are that lots of people are ...

For people with a chronic or serious illness, drugs that can help slow or cure the disease often put a financial strain on even the best insurance coverage.

The Affordable Care Act sets annual limits on the amount that people will owe out of pocket for prescription drugs starting ...

When it comes to inherited genetic mutations that increase the risk of breast cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2 get nearly all the attention.

Inherited mutations in these genes cause from 5 to 10 percent of breast cancers as well as up to 15 percent of ovarian cancers, according to the ...

Health insurance deductibles typically only go one direction: up.

It's not unusual for people these days to be responsible for paying thousands of dollars in medical claims before most plan benefits kick in.

Rewards to policyholders for claims that don't meet the annual deductible can be a boon for ...

The federal health care overhaul makes some notable improvements in insurance coverage for young adults.

They can now stay on their parents' health plans until they turn 26. Next year they can also look for subsidized coverage on the state-based insurance marketplaces, also called exchanges. And they may qualify for ...

Where preventive health care is concerned, a colonoscopy is one of the pricier screening tests, with a cost that often exceeds $1,000.

But under the health care overhaul, most health insurance plans have to cover the test for colorectal cancer without billing patients a dime, even if a polyp ...

Even if the Supreme Court sweeps aside barriers to federal- and state-sanctioned same-sex marriages this summer, where you live and work may still affect your access to health insurance benefits for a same-sex spouse.

The court is considering whether the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the federal government ...