Three years after being signed into law, the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges are about to begin. — Mike Morgan for AARP

With the new health insurance exchanges mandated by the three-year-old Affordable Care Act on the horizon, people will soon be able to go online to compare and buy health insurance.

AARP is working to ensure that these marketplaces are consumer-friendly and offer affordable, quality health care choices. The marketplaces will help people find coverage and determine whether  their premiums could be subsidized with a tax credit.

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Insurance companies are scrambling to put together health insurance plans for review by the federal government and the states.

By June, a federal call center will open to assist consumers. They will be able to purchase qualified plans on the exchanges by October, with coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2014.

The Department of Health and Human Services is still writing the regulations for setting up the exchanges. AARP is advocating for clear language and policies that make it simple to enroll in the exchanges.

"AARP fought to ensure the new health law would prevent insurance companies from pricing older Americans out of affordable coverage and denying people because of preexisting conditions," says Ariel Gonzalez, AARP's director of health and family advocacy. "Now we're working to ensure the new health marketplace is transparent and provides older Americans quality and affordable choices."