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The Affordable Care Act, often called 鈥淥bamacare,鈥� takes a big step forward Oct. 1 when new health insurance marketplaces open for enrollment. Rural鈥�

The traditional doctor-patient relationship in which a single doctor gets to know you over years will become a luxury. Those who want a personal physician will have to pay extra for that service. Doctors who chafe at working for big organizations will opt out and charge patients retainer fees.

Many people aren't sure if they'll qualify for subsidized insurance. Many also don't know how much insurance might cost them. Information about premiums is now available in most places, and here's a tool to make use of it.

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.

With online health-insurance markets set to open this week, it's still unclear whether healthy people will sign up. Yet the success of the program depends on them.

Very few insurers around the country are offering top-of-the-line platinum insurance plans. Policymakers predicted less expensive but more restrictive bronze and silver plans would prove more popular than high-end options, and it looks like insurance companies think so, too.

Leading Texas politicians have resisted the federal health care law. But in Houston, community groups and public health agencies are trying to educate the city's 800,000 uninsured residents about new coverage options.

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.

A college student will be able to shop for health insurance on one of the exchanges planned to open for business in October. But depending on the family's financial circumstances, he may be better off staying on his parents' plan or looking into Medicaid.

More Americans had health coverage last year, according to a Census Bureau report. More people qualified for Medicare, including adults under 65 who became eligible for coverage because they are disabled.