Oregon has already thrown in the electronic towel, and California is nanoseconds behind, as the Oct. 1 opening of the Obamacare Health Insurance Marketplaces looms just six weeks off.
It'll be phone calls, in-person visits and pen and paper for Oregonians hoping to use the state's Marketplace to buy health insurance come Oct. 1, as state officials admit they can't get the online registration system functioning in time.
Yesterday, California conceded it is having the same difficulties but is withholding announcement of an official delay until it can conduct further Web tests in September.
"We have not made that call yet," said Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, the state's Marketplace under the Affordable Care Act (ACT).
Federal officials are still struggling with the electronic versions of the 34 Marketplaces they'll be operating for the states that chose not to run their own ACA health insurance exchanges, but have admitted security issues with the data to be collected.
Earlier, the Feds inked a deal with eHealthInsurance.com to help them run the 34 federal/joint-federal-and-state Marketplaces.