The elections are over, and the holidays are almost here. It’s time to think about health insurance. And that’s especially true for the roughly 3.4 million people ages 45 to 64 who are now covered through the Obamacare insurance exchanges, according to Avalere Health—and for anyone who may be thinking of joining them next year.

Obamacare open enrollment is scheduled for Nov. 15 through Feb. 15, 2015. While many folks would rather present shop for their in-laws than comb through their health plan details, it really pays to pay attention here. This is true whether you’re enrolled in a plan that you like, you want to switch plans, or you’re entering the individual insurance market for the first time.

Those with workplace-based health insurance need not act, as Obamacare is only for those with individual and family non-group policies. However, those with comprehensive individual policies bought off-exchange, as the market outside the state Obamacare exchanges is called, have the same three-month window to make changes to their coverage for 2015; these are generally consumers whose higher incomes disqualify them from premium subsidies.

After open enrollment ends, consumers without a “qualifying life event,” like a move or the birth of a child, must wait until next fall to make changes for 2016 coverage. And while Obamacare faces future challenges in the courts and in the soon-to-be Republican-led Congress, it remains the law of the land.

Obamacare enrollment for 2015 to fall short of earlier estimates

If current Obamacare consumers do nothing, most will automatically be re-enrolled in their existing coverage for 2015. But this is not a decision you want to put on autopilot, experts say.

This holds especially true for boomers, who tend to have a chronic condition or two and are more likely than millennials to want to keep their existing doctor relationships. Double check that your doctors and hospitals are participating in your plan again next year, experts say—don’t assume that everything will stay the same. “What you have today might not be what you have tomorrow,” said Michael Tadlock, vice president of product management at eHealth, parent company of brokerage eHealthInsurance.com.

While the open enrollment period extends through Feb. 15, those who want their new coverage to begin Jan. 1, 2015 must enroll by Dec. 15.

The fee for not buying coverage for 2015 will increase to 2% of your yearly household income, or $325 per adult and $162.50 per child for the year (up to a family maximum of $975), whichever is higher. Those who didn’t buy coverage for 2014 and didn’t qualify for an exemption must pay their penalties—the higher of 1% of yearly household income or $95 per adult—at tax time next year.

Here are some factors to keep in mind as you shop:

Assessing premium changes

By now, consumers should have received a letter from their insurance carrier informing them of any premium and other changes for 2015. Now’s the time to comparison-shop. Final premium rates for 2015 have been posted on healthcare.gov, so shoppers in the 37 states that aren’t running their own exchange can preview their options before open enrollment officially begins (those whose states are running their own exchanges can find their state website through the ZIP Code finder on HealthCare.gov).

The average premium increase across metal tiers and ages for 2015 will be 5.6%, according to an analysis of data, including some non-final rates, from 43 states and the District of Columbia by the Health Research Institute at PricewaterhouseCoopers. But while many plans are posting moderate, single-digit premium increases, some are hiking premiums by double digits and others are actually lowering their prices.

New carriers are entering the market for 2015, while others are leaving. Indeed, of 39 regions examined in a recent report by the Urban Institute, 26 will see a change in the carrier offering the lowest-cost silver premium in 2015.

Even if your carrier leaves rates flat for 2015, your individual monthly premium could change if your subsidy goes up or down. The subsidy is based on the consumer’s estimated income for 2015 and the cost of the benchmark silver plan in the region, which in many places will be different from last year.

The problem is, your insurance carrier’s notification of 2015 premiums will tell you only how much you will save on next year’s premiums with your current subsidy. It won’t reflect any changes that will affect your subsidy for the coming year.

To get the most accurate picture of your actual costs for 2015, you need to go back into healthcare.gov and update your personal information. If you don’t do this and allow yourself to be automatically re-enrolled, your actual premium cost may turn out to be different than you expected. Not only that, but you’ll have to reconcile any differences between what you should have gotten in subsidies and what you actually received when you file your 2015 taxes.

Calculating your total cost

Savvy consumers know that the monthly premium is only the beginning when it comes to the total amount they’ll pay for their health care.

There’s also the deductible, which is the amount consumers have to pay before insurance kicks in. A policy might have a low premium but a deductible of, say, $4,000, and research has shown that some people cut back on visiting the doctor if they’re responsible for a big outlay before insurance starts. (Certain preventative services are not subject to the deductible and are fully covered under Obamacare plans.)

There are also cost-sharing requirements such as copayments—the fixed amount that you’ll pay the health-care provider, usually at the time of service—and coinsurance, or the portion of the medical bill you’re responsible for. These amounts could increase for next year.

Boomers who have an elective procedure on the horizon should analyze how that might be covered under their different plan options. A platinum plan with a relatively high premium that has a $500 deductible and low cost-sharing might end up saving you money over a bronze plan with a lower premium but a $4,000 deductible and higher cost-sharing requirements.

To dive into those details, you’ll need an estimate of how much your procedure will cost. You can try asking the hospital where you plan to have it done, but if the hospital doesn’t give you a clear answer—health-care prices can be notoriously hard to pin down before the fact—you can get an estimate from Healthcare Bluebook, a free online repository of health-care procedure quotes based on actual fees negotiated between insurance companies and health-care providers.

The website quotes a total fair price for total knee replacement at $22,457. While insured patients wouldn’t pay that amount, that gives you a ballpark of the total cost to which to apply your plan’s cost sharing requirements. For surgeries in this range, a platinum plan may very well represent the best value, but you need to do the math, said Brian Mast, spokesman for eHealth.

Analyzing your doctor and hospital options

Last year, many consumers had trouble determining whether their doctors participated in the health plan they were considering. Many carrier websites didn’t have updated information on their provider networks, as their relationships with doctors and hospitals are called. And individual doctors’ offices, overwhelmed by all the changes, also gave out the wrong information to confused consumers.

Unfortunately, healthcare.gov doesn’t offer a search-by-provider tool that allows consumers to plug in the name of a particular doctor or hospital and see all the plans those medical providers participate in. While individual insurance carrier sites often have such tools, it’s cumbersome for consumers to visit multiple different sites if they’re considering plans from multiple carriers.

Double-check all provider network information you find on the insurer’s website. Call the carrier and confirm whether your doctors and hospitals are “in-network” for the particular plan you’re considering. Consumers pay the least for in-network services. If your doctor practices at various locations, tell the carrier the specific location you visit, said April Seifert, data innovation lead for healthcare.com, an online health-insurance search engine (not to be confused with the official government site HealthCare.gov).

You can also call the doctor’s office to verify participation, but you have to be careful here. Don’t just ask whether the doctor’s office takes “UnitedHealthcare,” for example. Tell them the specific name of the plan you’re considering. It’s best to ask the office billing specialist, not the doctor or the receptionist, since that person is most familiar with the nitty-gritty plan details.

Those considering a procedure should look beyond the surgeon who will perform it when verifying that their procedure will be covered at in-network rates, Seifert said. In an unfortunate trend, consumers have been surprised by bills from out-of-network providers, like anesthesiologists, who they didn’t know would be involved in their care.

Let’s say you’re anticipating a knee replacement next year. Ask the surgeon who will be performing the surgery for the name of the anesthesiologists who may be on duty, but don’t stop there, Seifert said: Ask also for the name of the radiology group that reads the surgeon’s scans, and the name of any physical therapy practices with which the surgeon has a relationship. Also make sure the hospital itself is in network.

Verify that all these providers are “in-network” with your plan. Yes, that’s a lot of legwork, but it reduces the possibility of unpleasant surprises.

Obamacare made big changes to the way health insurance is delivered in this country, and the industry is still adjusting, Seifert said. Eventually, carriers are likely to respond with a more user-friendly experience, she said, but “ the consumer needs to do a bit more work in the interim period.”