2. Health insurance literacy is a necessity. We’re still making our way through this new healthcare system, and this is hindered by a lack of health insurance literacy. Many clients we assist are familiar with the concept of a health insurance co-pay, but once those financial concepts expand to include deductibles, embedded deductibles, coinsurance and cost-sharing—consumers can become lost.

The jargon can be challenging, much less applying it to their purchasing decisions. For instance, four of 10 uninsured individuals could not correctly identify health insurance terms such as “provider network,” “annual deductible” and “premium,” according to a KFF survey of nearly 1,300 people. It would be easier if we could make these terms more compelling, like learning how to rank poker hands. The objective for financial advisors, however, is helping their clients understand that using this knowledge to their advantage will result in real-dollar savings.

My friend was confident and knew what she had to do—transition her son from her employer’s private plan in one state, to a state marketplace plan in another state. But explaining basic concepts like “in network” and “out of network” to her son made the process more difficult.

3. The devil is in the detail. Now we can build on lesson No. 2. Once your client understands the parts of a health insurance plan and related costs, it begins to get interesting. Marketplace exchange plans and the subsidies involved can be coordinated to provide your clients with coverage and a cost structure that’s unlike anything they may have purchased in the past.

For example, some exchange plans come with embedded deductibles, rather than the typical deductibles that each member had to meet before the plan started to pay for coverage. This means that a family of four could have just one sick individual and meet their deductible for the year, allowing the plan to start paying. Then there are the numerous cost-reduction provisions provided, which takes us to lesson No. 4.

4. Look into the costs, and then look again. The following are just a few of the provisions surrounding exchange plans to keep in mind.

There are no lifetime limits and no annual limits for these policies. Insurers cannot charge higher rates due to gender or health status. However, they can adjust pricing if you are a smoker, an illustration of which I just recently witnessed. Two individuals of similar age who live only blocks apart in a major city asked why HealthCare.gov didn’t display the same plan to both and why the options for one of the two were more expensive. The answer: one is a smoker, the other is not.

Plans come in four categories and provide an actuarial value of 60 percent for bronze, 70 percent for silver, 80 percent for gold, and 90 percent for platinum. This means they cover, on average, an estimated 60, 70, etc., percent of participant’s healthcare costs. Plans at these levels have an out-of-pocket expense cap of $6,600 for an individual and $13,200 for families. (Catastrophic coverage for those under age 30 is one more type of plan, but has several restrictions.)

Most individuals at 100 to 400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) can receive tax credits toward the premium costs they incur for insurance bought through the exchanges. Also, those who are at 100 to 250 percent of the (FPL) can receive subsidies to support cost-sharing for the insurance they buy. Consider that a family of five could have household income of more than $100,000 and still receive tax credits toward their purchase of an exchange plan.

Tax credits, which apply to premiums, are typically “paid in advance” by reducing the monthly premium amount. They also are refundable through your tax return. But consider that it’s a little like your annual tax refund—why let the government keep your money all year?

These are just a few of the cost-related specifications outlined that impact consumers shopping for coverage through exchange plans. To repeat, look at the costs—and then look again.

Financial advisors are choosing to work with marketplace specialists for these types of comparison shopping services, similar to the services available for Medicare plan selection. They offer clients their expertise about the public exchanges and the financial benefits they may realize through their choice of healthcare plans. Some of these specialists work with their clients, side-by-side, online and by telephone to make the shopping experience easier to manage and the information more digestible.

5. Clients who choose a healthcare plan and set their buttons on cruise control may go off course down the road. One of the bright spots for consumers were reports that premiums for 2015 were expected to drop compared to the first year. An analysis of premiums for the second-lowest cost silver plan, which is the benchmark used for calculating subsidies, were expected to drop by an average of 0.8 percent from the current year, according to an analysis by KFF.

However, the challenge for clients who choose an exchange plan and simply re-enroll each year is the potential to incur significant premium increases with their existing plan. Choosing the status quo is a decision we see consumers make time and again with their Medicare plan selections, so it should come as no surprise that individuals will want to choose an exchange plan once and stick with it going forward.

Financial advisors, however, will want to make sure they discuss the possible pitfalls of this approach. For example, the plan one client chose in 2014 could see significantly higher premiums in 2015. The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services reported that 25 percent more insurance issuers are participating in the marketplace for 2015. This means your clients probably have many more options—an average of 40 health plans in their county, up from 30 plans in 2014—and there’s more competition for their healthcare insurance dollar.