health exchanges

Florida has resisted the Affordable Care Act from the get-go, so one of the state's large insurers and Spanish-language media have done most of the outreach to Latinos.

Much has been made of the need for young, healthy people to sign up if the Affordable Care Act is going to work. But it may be that the key word here is not young, but healthy. Insurance companies get paid more for older people, regardless of their health.

Probably the best feature of the retooled HealthCare.gov website is that you can actually use it. People are now able to get a customized list of plans and prices, and click through to see an insurer's provider directory. Still, better though it is, it's clearly not 100 percent.

After a rocky start, the HealthCare.gov website is supposed to be able to handle 50,000 simultaneous users by the end of the month. That figure would represent about double the site's current capacity. An expected surge in demand will present a new test.

If you advertise it, they will come. Sign-ups for Medicaid are brisk, even in states that haven't expanded their programs with an infusion of federal dollars. Experts call that the "woodwork effect" — getting the word out to people who were already eligible.

The health care law is helping low- and middle-income Americans pay for their insurance. Where does that money come from? In part, it is a matter of the well-off helping pay for those who have less. But that's not the full answer.