The Affordable Care Act was created to help provide more affordable health insurance and insure more Americans. On October 1, Americans will have access to the Health Insurance Marketplaces, which will be run either at the state or federal level. These Marketplaces were constructed to help American find affordable healthcare coverage and compare different plans. They have been designed for ease of use and to allow Americans to start shopping for insurance online after just a few steps.

The first step in exploring your options is to go to the Health Insurance Marketplace website, where you can create an account or be redirected to your appropriate state Marketplace. During this step, you will be asked to provide basic information and create a username and password. Additional questions may be asked to provide security for the account.

The next step is completing your application for insurance. The application asks for more specific details about you, such as income, household size and information about your family. Open enrollment begins on October 1.

Third, you can review all of the health insurance plans that you are eligible for. These results are generated from the information that you provided in your application. This step allows for a side-by-side comparison of different plans and their costs.

The final step is to enroll in your selected plan. Insurance coverage for purchases made through the Marketplaces will take effect on January 1, 2014.

The Health Insurance Marketplaces are predicted to eventually insure up to 29 million Americans. Also, the Marketplaces anticipate helping currently insured Americans find more affordable plans. Only a few days and four simple steps separate Americans from new options for health insurance coverage.