JUDY WOODRUFF: Lets turn to the latest on expanding health insurance coverage and the real costs for people.

The law is called the Affordable Care Act. And while theres been much attention on enrollment, theres been less discussion about a key question, affordability. The first month of the new enrollment season through has gone a lot more smoothly than last year. More than 2.5 million people have selected a plan through the federal exchange so far.

But what about premiums and out-of-pocket costs?

Mary Agnes Carey covers this for Kaiser Health News. I sat down with her the other day to discuss the latest.

Mary Agnes Carey, welcome back.

MARY AGNES CAREY, Kaiser Health News: Thanks for having me.

JUDY WOODRUFF: So lets talk first about enrollment. We understand there has been a surge in interest just in the first month. What are you seeing?

MARY AGNES CAREY: From November 15 to until December 10, which was the last set of reported figures, 2.5 million people have signed up for a health plan on healthcare.gov.

And, by comparison, this is what happened in the first three months of last year, when you had all those Web site problems. Were not seeing those this year. But there seems to be real interest.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Can you so is it just the fact that the Web site is up and working? Is there something else going on here?

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Why changes in health care costs vary widely around the U.S.