jay hancock was a longtime reporter for "the baltimore sun ."ch we also have a sarah varney, who comes to washington for the special show we are doing today. she worked for a long time at kqed public broadcasting in san francisco and she did health- care coverage and is filed for the monthly magazine "health dialogue." john doe tweets in -- is that a fair assessment, sarah varney? guest: certainly. the primary goal of the affordable care act is to inure millions of people the united states, and there is a whole bunch of other things the affordable care act does. medicare, trying to reduce inspections, the list goes on and on good primarily at its 50e, absolutely, we have million uninsured people and how do we get them insurance? guest: we are talking about financial security and peace of mind. by far the largest cause of bankruptcies in recent years, recent decades, it's been health-care costs. one of the reasons behind the aca was that nobody should have to go bankrupt we does they get sick. -- because they get sick. objectivedo th reporting. i

ma agnes carey, sarah varney, and jay hancock are our guests. the stock above the exchanges or marketplaces. what are they? >> guest: the marketplace is the new term. exchange was sort of the policy term. the administration, trying to read branded as a marketplace because they think that that is more descriptive. here is what they are. they're mainly on line based places where you can go shopping for health coverage. as we say, october 1st is the date that they're supposed to open. they have been likened to travel loss d or orbitz where you go online and walked through several steps to buy tickets. he's will be much more complicated. we will be interesting to see how the design of the software is to get people to the right insurance places. it is not -- so october 1st. you will hear more and more about that -- the exchanges. you will see reject campaigns by the federal government and the states the sponsoring these changes. you are going to of start hearing about navigators who are sort of consultants who are out there to help consumers sign up

i don't know if anything has anything they want to add to that. >> jay hancock. >> a couple thoughts, david. one, yes, it's really complicated. however, in a few months, if everything works as it's supposed to, we're close to the way it's supposed to, a lot of things will become clearer. new jersey's health exchange and health exchanges are these online market places where everybody like you are supposed to go on and sign up for coverage. if the software is designed right you'll be able to go on there and actually get a really clear idea another of what your choices are, what the tradeoffs are in the plans and what the plans are going to cost. again, those open october 1st. and people like you have until march 31st of next year to sign up for them to get coverage and comply with the mandate. one other quick tip. go online, and google obamacare subsidy calculator. this is something our colleagues at the foundation have put together. a great tool that will show you what coverage is available in particular what kind of subsidy you will get bases on your knock help pay the premiums. i if

host: let's get jay hancock to respond. guest: it is a great question. i do not know whether it dental and vision will be on it. guest: only pediatric dental coverage. i think if you had a problem with your retina, a medical issue, he might get some coverage. if you think it will be the same on the exchanges. it sounds like the exchanges may be a very good option for the color. guest: you are shaking your head yes. in california we have been going through the bidding process for the pediatric dental plans. adult dental is still considered an orphaned organ. guest: it can be offered in the packet or it can be a stand- alone. most of us get dental coverage through standalone packages. if you want to buy that for your child you have separate co-pays and deductibles. it has been a bit of a problem for democrats on capitol hill. it is something that hhs is watching. host: if you are self employed with a small business, how do you approach this law? guest: i forget that i am a business. i go shopping to the consumer that is where the subsidies are likely to be