WASHINGTON (AP) — The first draft was as mind-numbing as a tax form. Tuesday the Obama administration unveiled simplified application forms for health insurance benefits coming next year under the federal health care overhaul.

The biggest change: a five-page short form that single people can fill out. That total includes a cover page with instructions, and an extra page to fill out if you want to designate someone to help you through the process.

But the application form for families still runs to 12 pages, although most households will not have to fill out each and every page.

Even as you finish with this year's taxes, if you're a small-business owner experts say it's time to look ahead to 2014, when the tax implications of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) begin to kick in.

"Just now, things are really sinking in that there is this employer responsibility," said Amanda Austin, of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Under ACA, often called Obamacare, employers with 50 or more full-time workers face a mandate to provide insurance. It's known formally as shared responsibility.

The Agent’s Role as Advisor and Risk Manager

The older a building, the more likely it is to have serious defects, particularly in critical building systems such as electrical, plumbing, HVAC and roofing. Older buildings generate more claims than younger properties, especially if they have not been well-maintained or if their building systems have not been updated.

This is why an insurer will ask a policyholder about the age of the original building, the age of renovations or additions and the age and condition of critical building systems. The information helps the insurer price the coverage fairly, and brings to light any serious defects to be corrected. In the case of serious plumbing defects, failure-prone polybutylene piping for example, or when a major update is needed, say, an aging water heater, the insurer may request the upgrades as a condition of coverage.

Millions of people who take advantage of government subsidies to help buy health insurance next year could get stung by surprise tax bills if they don’t accurately project their income.

President Barack Obama’s new health care law will offer subsidies to help people buy private health insurance on state-based exchanges, if they don’t already get coverage through their employers. The subsidies are based on income. The lower your income, the bigger the subsidy.

But the government doesn’t know how much money you’re going to make next year. And when you apply for the subsidy, this fall, it won’t even know how much you’re making this year. So, unless you tell the government otherwise, it will rely on the best information it has: your 2012 tax return, filed this spring.

A properly used portable fire extinguisher saves lives and property by putting out small fires before they escape and become large damaging fires - safeguarding your family and your household.

In addition, nearly all homeowners insurance policies offer a small discount for having a fire extinguisher in the home.

There are three basic classes of fires. Portable fire extinguishers that have been tested and approved will be labeled with the three classes of fire they are suited to fight.

The old labeling system uses simple icons with an A, B, or C designation to show which class of fire the extinguisher is designed to fight.