The shutdown of many federal operations and activities this week has obscured widespread problems in the opening of insurance exchanges under President Obama’s health care law, giving the administration time to work out the kinks, members of both parties say.
In a stark contrast, the exchanges — online markets where consumers can shop for insurance — opened on Tuesday as much of the government was closing because of an impasse between Mr. Obama and Congressional Republicans over federal spending.
Millions of people were still frustrated Friday when they tried to #GetCovered, as instructed on Twitter by Mr. Obama, Lady Gaga and other celebrities.
Since the federal exchanges opened Tuesday, 8.6 million people have visited its Web site, and its telephone call center has received 406,000 calls, officials said Friday. They declined to say how many people had enrolled in health insurance plans. A section of the Web site where people apply for coverage will be taken down for several hours a day over the weekend so technicians can upgrade its capabilities, the administration said.
The law is at the center of the stalemate that has blocked funds for many federal programs.
Republicans want to repeal or delay it or make major changes, but Mr. Obama refuses to negotiate over the future of the law, which converts coverage from a privilege to a right, starting in January.
Lawmakers and lobbyists say the law’s Republican opponents may have overplayed their hand this week, making it easier for supporters to brush aside criticism.
E. Neil Trautwein, a vice president of the National Retail Federation, said the standoff had “hardened the positions” of House Republicans, Senate Democrats and the White House, reducing the chances for changes that could make the law more workable for employers.
In general, the law requires larger employers to offer coverage to full-time employees, those who work, on average, at least 30 hours a week. Many employers are lobbying for legislation that would alter the definition and reduce the number of businesses subject to the employer mandate.
Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, both Republicans, have led the campaign to strip money from the Affordable Care Act, although many Republican senators have expressed deep reservations about the tactic, saying it is unlikely to succeed.
“This was a self-inflicted wound,” said one Republican on Capitol Hill, who spoke candidly on the condition of anonymity. “The push to defund the health care law was ludicrous from the beginning. It had no chance of success. But it became a cause célèbre for the hard right and obscured all the work we had done to investigate and highlight problems with the law.”
On one point, many liberals and conservatives agree. It will be hard to take away government-subsidized coverage once people have it.
At a Tea Party gathering in Texas in August, Mr. Cruz said the president wanted to get people “hooked on the subsidies, addicted to the sugar.”
“If we get to Jan. 1, this thing is here forever,” Mr. Cruz said, according to The Texas Tribune.
Ronald F. Pollack, the executive director of Families USA, a liberal-leaning consumer group, said: “I agree with Senator Cruz. Once people experience the benefits and protections of the Affordable Care Act, it will be hard, if not impossible, to take them away.”
The Obama administration had promoted its Web site for weeks as the best source of information on health insurance. But insurance agents, like consumers, were often stymied when they tried to use it.
“I am president of the National Association of Health Underwriters, and I could not get on the Web site,” said Thomas M. Harte, a New Hampshire insurance broker who wanted to help clients. “I have tried more than a dozen times, in the middle of the day and the middle of the night.”
Many users found they could not create the online accounts needed to see what health plans were available.
“The president calls these glitches, a nice poll-tested, fairly benign-sounding word,” said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas. “But these were systemic failures of the Obamacare exchanges — obviously, not ready for prime time.”
Democrats, by contrast, were ecstatic. They said the problems were caused by the unexpectedly high number of visits to the Web site, which showed huge public demand for more affordable insurance.
A few persistent people said they had cleared the hurdles.
Emily R. Wright, 28, a student at East Tennessee State University, said she had signed up for a Blue Cross and Blue Shield policy in about a half-hour, after repeated efforts to get on the Web site. She said she had a painful gynecological condition, endometriosis, and qualified for a subsidy that would halve her premium, to $125 a month.
“I’m thrilled I can get treatment now,” Ms. Wright said.
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