10 things your health insurance won't tell you

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1. We have no idea what to charge you for coverage

The Affordable Care Act overhauled the country's health insurance system, and insurers are still grappling with the changes. When President Obama's signature law took full effect on Jan. 1, insurers on the individual market could no longer charge sick people more than healthy people or decline to cover them. Insurers were also limited in the amount they could charge older consumers over younger ones.

Discrimination based on age and health status was common before, and the worst of it was reserved for the roughly 11 million people who bought plans on the individual market because they didn't have work or government-based coverage. Denying coverage to certain consumers-or charging them more than healthy ones-helped insurers predict and control their costs. They now face more uncertainty about how to price their product.

As the industry gears up for the start of the second Obamacare open enrollment period on Nov. 15, 'there is definitely still some guesswork' when it comes to setting premium prices for 2015, says Caroline Pearson, vice president for Avalere Health, a Washington, D.C.-based health care consultancy.

Lots of sick consumers would push up premiums for all, but insurers are still getting a handle on the needs of their new customers. Insurers must pay patient claims and still turn a profit-after all, many of the major carriers are publicly traded companies that answer to shareholders. In 2012, consumer spending on private insurance premiums accounted for $917 billion of the $2.8 trillion spent on health care in the U.S., according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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Carriers' analysis will clarify somewhat for 2016, as they will have had a full year's worth of claims data to analyze. Yet the demographics of the insured population will continue to change as new people enroll and others drop their coverage, keeping insurers on their toes, Pearson says.

During this 'time of transition,' insurers remain focused on ensuring the affordability, stability and accessibility of their plans, said Clare Krusing, a spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the trade association representing the insurance industry.