Regardless of your political, personal or philosophical views on health care reform, it is now the law of the land and many of us will be impacted by changes in the way we receive health care coverage.

Yet weeding through the many details is daunting and – unless this is your area of expertise – probably quite confusing. A number of questions remain and even the government has yet to figure out just exactly how all this will work.

Even though most changes aren’t scheduled to take effect until 2014, some areas will be impacted much sooner. Here’s an outline of what this means for you or your business in the coming months.

If you are an individual with a pre-existing condition who has not been able to buy health insurance, newly-created state and federal high-risk health insurance pools may offer you an option. Because these pools accept anyone for any condition, expect high premiums; however, the government plans to partially subsidize these payments. Once the exchanges go into effect, you will see these high risk pools eliminated.

· Small businesses that employ fewer than 25 employees and contribute more than 50 percent of the employee-only premiums may be eligible to receive a tax credit (from 2010-2013) up to 35 percent of the premiums the business pays for each employee.