The ACA requires insured individual plans and small group plans to provide coverage for the 10 categories of "essential health benefits" - ambulatory patient service; emergency service; hospitalization; maternity and newborn care; mental health and substance abuse disorder services; prescription drugs; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; laboratory services; preventive and wellness services and chronic disease management; and pediatric services. It appears individual and small group plans that do not cover those 10 essential health benefits are being canceled. It's not a matter of changing insurance companies or not being able to keep your insurance company.

Within those 10 categories, what is covered will vary by state. HHS declined to issue regulations establishing a national definition. Instead, each state had to select an existing health plan as a base for determining what constitutes an "essential health benefit" within those 10 categories.

There are 27 states with federally-facilitated state exchanges, and another 7 states with "partnership" exchanges that are run by the federal and state governments together. The exchanges (including those that are federally facilitated) are just a place for you to go to get individual insurance - they aren't insurance plans themselves. Costs will vary and depend on the state in which you live.

In addition to reviewing the costs carefully, be sure to review the networks associated with the exchange-based plans. In order to keep costs low enough to have their plans approved to be offered on the exchanges, many of the plans come with much narrower networks of doctors that could further limit one's choice of doctors.

Hopefully some of that info is helpful.