Kiplinger - "Health Reform, Phase 1: What You Will See When" - Non-Partisan Personal Finance View

People with medical issues. Although the new law forbids insurers from denying children with preexisting conditions dependent coverage under their parents' plan starting September 23, older Americans with health problems have to wait until 2014 for guaranteed access. But the law does appropriate $5 billion for a high-risk pool, in effect from June 2010 until 2014, to help people otherwise locked out of the insurance system to buy subsidized policies. The new pool's policies must cap annual out-of-pocket spending at $5,950 for individual coverage or $11,900 for families (not including premiums), and premiums will be limited.

You need to be uninsured for at least six months to qualify for the new pool, a stricter requirement than some state pools impose now. States and the federal government are determining how existing state pools will interact with the new pool. If you have health issues -- whether or not you currently have coverage -- contact your state insurance department to find out what your options are. Go to www.naic.org for state contacts, or www.coverageforall.org for more resources.

Medicare beneficiaries. People who have Medicare Part D prescription-drug coverage will automatically receive a $250 rebate check this year if they reach the "doughnut hole." In 2010, the gap in coverage begins after you reach $2,830 in total prescription-drug spending and extends until your total drug costs for the year reach $6,440.

Starting in 2011, the doughnut hole will begin to shrink. Drug companies will provide a 50% discount on brand-name drugs in the coverage gap next year. After that, Part D beneficiaries will pay a smaller portion of their drug costs in the doughnut hole each year until 2020, when they have to pay just 25% of those costs.