If you or your spouse have health insurance through your employer, you may soon find yourself in "open enrollment," or the time of year when you can review your current benefits and decide if you'd like to change your plan.

As much of a pain as this can be -- it sounds about as exciting as taxes, right? -- picking the best health insurance plan for you and your family is critical. Planning to have a baby soon? Need new eyeglasses? Struggling to make ends meet? There are so many factors to consider when selecting health insurance. Make sure you do it right:

Open Enrollment in 5 Steps: How to Decide

Why Should You Care?

What Are Health Savings Accounts?

Special interest groups are going to great lengths for the chance to participate in health reform. According to the Associated Press, the pharmaceutical industry and hospitals have both agreed to give up billions of dollars now in order to protect their interests in the future. Providers are especially interested in ensuring that if healthcare reform includes a public plan option, payment rates are comparable to those provided by private insurance plans rather than Medicare rates.

However, these special interests cannot come close to footing the bill for health reform, which has been estimated at $1 trillion over the next 10 years. This means that their offer is a calculated risk - they hope that the President remembers their support when it comes time to sign a reform bill into law.

A recent article in the Boston Globe highlights a disturbing but increasingly common trend - Americans who take or stay with a job strictly for the health insurance. In many cases, these individuals have tried to obtain coverage on their own but found it to be more expensive than the group coverage available through some part-time jobs. Even relatively low-wage jobs, such as those available through Starbucks or retail chains, become more attractive to Americans looking for affordable health coverage.

A group of legislators who call themselves Blue Dog Democrats have put the brakes on a comprehensive health reform bill working its way through the House of Representatives. According to the Washington Post, this setback is especially troubling to President Obama, who has deemed health reform to be one of his top two priorities in 2009. However, the Blue Dog Democrats will not approve any legislation that fails to contain costs. They want to be sure that everything possible will be done to reduce costs within the system before resorting to taxation as a funding source. This faction is working on their own draft of legislation that will address their concerns. The President has asked Congress to present him with a reform bill by October, so time is running short - even if the House does reach an agreement, they must then reach an agreement with the Senate before delivering this key legislation.