GoHealth, which calls itself "the nation's most complete online portal for finding health insurance coverage," looked at self-reported income for nearly 15,000 shoppers on its site in August. Based on PPACA guidelines, the company concluded that more than 45 percent of individuals and 52 percent of families may qualify for government subsidies to purchase health insurance through the exchanges under PPACA soon to open in each state.

Those figures are in line with Kaiser Family Foundation research, published in August, that found "about half (48 percent) of people now buying their own insurance would be eligible for a tax credit that would offset their premium."

The main determinant for subsidy eligibility is level of income. Consumers with household income between one and four times the poverty guidelines may qualify for some amount of government money to help pay their insurance premiums. The 2013 poverty level is set at $11,490 for an individual. (See here for larger household levels.)

GoHealth said the findings are encouraging. A company press release announcing the results stated that "the data from this study is certainly good news for Americans wondering how expensive health insurance premiums will be on the new Marketplaces. Anyone eligible for subsidies will be able to apply those credits to their premiums on GoHealthInsurance.com and pay less up front for their plans."

But the still unanswerable question is, what will the subsidy, plus my own contribution, buy me?

Looking at a calculator on the GoHealth website that lists currently available provider policies, a 40-year-old non-smoking female in Denver could purchase a policy with a $1,000 deductible, 30 percent coinsurance, and $200 prescription deductible for $244 per month.

A separate health insurance subsidy calculator on the site shows that for a 40-year-old female in Denver making $35,000, health insurance premiums for coverage bought through the exchanges, mitigated by a $1503 annual government subsidy, would be about $277 a month.

What the site doesn't show, and no one yet knows, is whether the coverage bought through the exchanges (the latter scenario above), is equivalent, or even close to, the coverage available on the private market (scenario No. 1).

As Mark Colwell, director of consumer marketing at GoHealth, said, "[T]he marketplace plans have not been released publically so no one is able to compare today's coverage versus what's available next year."