The Commonwealth Fund discusses here the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’  final regulations for plans sold on the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) health-insurance marketplaces. “The rules set a wide range of requirements for participating insurers to help smooth the operation of the marketplaces and improve the consumer experience,” the fund’s Web site says.

An important part implements new continuity-of-care protection for consumers to try to ensure that patients in the middle of a course of treatment aren’t abandoned if their physicians, hospitals or other providers are taken off their health-insurance plan’s network.