Obama administration officials scrambling to get the health law's insurance marketplaces ready to open on Tuesday keep hitting technical problems, while government-funded field workers across the country say they aren't fully prepared to help Americans enroll in the program.
Implementation of the law is expected to proceed even if the government partially shuts down because Congress fails to pass the necessary spending bills. But insurers, who are counting on the law to usher in new customers, say that even short-lived quirks could sour Americans on participating. That could deter people who are on the fence about buying coverage—especially young, healthy people needed to make the law work.
Nonprofit groups and brokers that will help enroll consumers in the marketplaces, known as exchanges, say they haven't yet had a chance to preview the systems. Technical problems have limited certification for some nonprofit workers involved. And some of these groups say they haven't fully staffed up for the influx.
"This is very much coming together in real-time," said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, a nonprofit that has received a federal grant to become a so-called navigator, helping Americans enroll in exchanges.
Her group had hoped to hire 30 to 40 so-called navigators by Oct. 1, and she said it was "far" from that goal.
The early days won't just be important for the law itself, but for the related budget wrangling in Washington. Early stumbles would give a boost to Republicans who want to delay or defund the law as the price of agreeing to keep the government funded and raise the debt ceiling. A smooth opening likewise would help Democrats and the White House.
At the vanguard of the nationwide scramble are government information-technology experts who have been camping out near Herndon, Va., to help a contractor there catch last-minute software hitches that could block some consumers from enrolling in the marketplaces.
That push has led to improvements, but problems remain, people familiar with the matter said.
The Obama administration said Tuesday's launch is just the beginning of a monthslong push to enroll consumers in the law's coverage expansion. Administration officials maintained that the launch wouldn't face delays.
The Department of Health and Human Services has "trained and certified thousands of in-person assisters, and will continue training more in the coming days and weeks," said Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman.
The federal government is overseeing all or part of the exchanges in 36 states.
Officials in some states, such as Colorado and Oregon, which are running their own exchanges, say some features won't be available on Oct. 1. Seven million people are expected to sign up for coverage in the individual exchanges for next year.
Exchanges are online shopping centers where consumers can compare and buy health plans offered by private insurance companies. The exchanges also determine whether people are eligible for subsidies to buy coverage.
Government officials and contractors have defused many technical problems but issues remain.
The exchange software that determines whether people get the subsidies was returning accurate determinations about two-thirds of the time late Friday, up from less than 50% earlier in the week, one person familiar with the development said.
CGI Group Inc., the contractor developing the software, declined to comment.
On Thursday, President Barack Obama gave a pep talk to rank-and-file health officials, a senior administration official said, acknowledging the long hours they have devoted in recent days.
Regardless of how well the online aspects of the exchanges work, people will be able to sign up using paper applications or by calling insurance agents.
Policies purchased on the exchanges don't go into effect until Jan. 1 at the earliest, and people can sign up as late as mid-December.
"The date with real significance is Dec. 15, not Oct. 1," said Cathy Livingston, a partner at the law firm Jones Day, and a former Internal Revenue Service official who oversaw health law implementation.
Still, insurers worry younger, healthier adults who are critical to the health law's success may give up on the exchanges because of early technical problems.
"Every glitch is a human being" who could become frustrated, said Tom Scully, a Medicare director during the George W. Bush administration.
In the final hours before the launch, Highmark Inc. Chief Executive William Winkenwerder said he hadn't expected so many question marks about the exchanges being functional on the first day.
Highmark, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, has staffed up in anticipation of problems with the exchanges. "We're as prepared as we can be, given the state of affairs," Mr. Winkenwerder said.
The people who are supposed to help enroll Americans if the computer systems don't work properly aren't fully ready either.
Health and Human Services awarded grants to navigators and is certifying others, such as social workers at community clinics, to help people enroll.
But, the online certification programs were crashing because too many people were attempting to access them at the same time, according to insurance agents and navigators.
Government officials say they were continuing to certify navigators.
New hires at the Greater Phoenix Urban League Inc., a navigator, have been unable to access the training modules during working hours, when traffic is high, said David Aguirre, who is coordinating the nonprofit's enrollment push. The problems improved over the weekend, he said.
Enrollment workers also say they haven't yet had a chance to preview the tools they will be showing consumer how to use this week.
"We don't have any practice runs," Mr. Aguirre said.
While the Obama administration and outside analysts expect the bulk of enrollees this year to sign up in November and December, some uninsured people—anticipating the promise of affordable insurance, often for the first time—were looking to Tuesday with the goal of enrolling as soon as possible.
Craig Chronister, the first navigator to receive federal certification in Kansas, said he had received six phone calls from uninsured residents seeking appointments this week.
Susan Fattouh, an uninsured 58-year-old massage therapist from Port Orange, Fla., said she's expecting enrollment helpers to be "jammed" on Tuesday when she calls to seek coverage.
"I don't expect to be able to get ahold of anybody, but I'll do the best I can," Ms. Fattouh said.
Write to Christopher Weaver at christopher.weaver@wsj.com, Timothy W. Martin at timothy.martin@wsj.com and Louise Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@wsj.com
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