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One section of the health law says its wellness programs can't require participants to give information about guns in their homes. But public health scholars criticize the measure because they say it keeps doctors and nurses from doing their jobs.

Hospice policies that reject patients on the grounds that no one's at home to care for them, while increasingly rare, do still exist around the country. But for many families, that's just not an option.

Without rules that spell out which health plan takes the lead, a young person who lives out of state and is covered by his parents' plan and a college health plan might run into trouble trying to get in-network care when far from hometown.

The nation's biggest insurer is starting to dole out bonuses and penalties to nearly 3,000 hospitals as it ties almost $1 billion in payments to the quality of care provided to patients.

Drugmakers have been criticized for cost-sharing assistance programs that encourage patients to use brand-name drugs instead of cheaper, generic alternatives. The federal government has frowned on the help, but there are expensive medicines for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis that don't have generic equivalents.

Verifying that a patient has paid for coverage under the Affordable Care Act can take hours. But if doctors' offices don't check, they can get stuck with the bill.

Some of the priciest markets for insurance include rural counties in Georgia and the areas around ski resorts in Colorado. While many people in these places will receive government subsidies to help pay for premiums, the portion that they pay will still be higher than what they would have to foot elsewhere.

Urgent care clinics are part of a growth strategy for some hospital chains. But some analysts wonder if hospitals will be able to provide good customer service at the clinics.

As the long, slow demise of company-sponsored retiree health insurance continues, some firms are contracting with Medicare exchanges to try to ease the transition for their former employees.

Under the federal health law and 2006 regulations, insurers can't deny medical coverage for an individual's injuries because they resulted from a medical condition such as depression, even if it wasn't diagnosed before the injury.