Julie Rovner

The easy answer is that computer glitches stalled the launch of the Affordable Care Act health exchanges. But it's not as simple as that. The Obama administration lost valuable time waiting for a Supreme Court decision, a presidential election and state health exchange plans.

A tax on medical devices stays in place, as does financial help for health coverage for staffers in Congress and the executive branch. One putative win doesn't amount to much. Legal language that would require the government to certify it's verifying the income of people getting subsidies is largely redundant.

Now that enrollment has opened for coverage under the Affordable Care Act, one of the biggest questions people have is, what's the deadline? It's Dec. 15 if you want coverage to start on Jan. 1. But open enrollment actually runs through March 2014. After that, you'll generally have to wait until next fall.

Navigators are a key part of the health law rollout. They work at nonprofit organizations, and they're being trained to help people learn about their coverage options. In some areas that training is still going on, even though the exchanges are up and running.

If all goes as planned, people who don't have insurance will be able to shop for it on online insurance marketplaces starting Tuesday. As long as people sign up by Dec. 15, they'll be covered starting Jan. 1.

According to a report released by the Department of Health and Human Services, "premiums nationwide will ... be around 16 percent lower than originally expected," and 95 percent of uninsured people live in a state with average premiums that are lower than expected.

The online marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act so people can compare health plans and sign up for health insurance are scheduled to open for business on Oct. 1. As the date approaches, opponents of the administration's health law are ratcheting up their efforts to stop it.

As health costs keep rising, many firms are trying to run their benefits programs as leanly as possible. For some, that means not paying the claims of spouses who work for other companies. It costs more to insure the typical spouse than the typical employee, one analyst says.

Can I wait to sign up for health insurance under Obamacare until I get sick? Do young people really have to buy it? And isn't Obamacare really a negative term? Julie Rovner answers these and more as opening day looms for the new health exchanges.

Federal lawmakers have been unable to solve a widely acknowledged problem with the formula used to set the pay for doctors who treat Medicare patients. Now, after a series of temporary patches, a bipartisan solution may be at hand.