Obamacare launch hits early hitch as online traffic snarls up sites
(Reuters) - The U.S. government launched the centrepiece of President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare reform on Tuesday, opening new insurance marketplaces across the country for millions of uninsured Americans, but technical glitches prevented early access to many of their websites.
The opening of the state marketplaces, or exchanges, went ahead despite a partial federal government shutdown precipitated by Republican opposition to the healthcare law that deadlocked a spending bill in Congress.
But a federally-run exchange for consumers in 36 states began posting error messages for at least 24 of them soon after the system opened for enrolment at 8 a.m. EDT (1.00 p.m. British time), citing online traffic as a reason for the difficulties. An administration official said experts were aware of the issue and were working on it.
"Consumers who need help can also contact the call centre, use the live chat function or go to localhelp.healthcare.gov to find an in-person assistor in their community," the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/10/01/uk-usa-healthcare-idUKBRE9900MJ20131001
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