The Obama administration launched a program to allow Americans to enroll in health insurance directly through insurance companies, bypassing the troubled HealthCare.gov website. The program will initially launch as a pilot in Ohio, Florida and Texas. This direct enrollment option is one of several alternative enrollment methods the administration is pursuing to ensure Americans can sign up for coverage by the March deadline, as the HealthCare.gov site may still have issues even after promised fixes by the end of October. Insurance companies will now be able to directly send applications to the site to verify eligibility and subsidies.

1. Administration launches program to let users circumvent
HealthCare.gov
Trouble with the HealthCare.gov site appears to be so widespread that the Obama administration
has opened the door for Americans to circumvent the site altogether.Â
Under a plan announced Friday by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the government
would allow people to deal directly with insurance companies instead of through the federally run
exchange website. The move comes as the administration's self-imposed Nov. 1.
Americans, who are required to have insurance under the president's 2010 health care law, must
enroll by the end of March or face a tax penalty.Â
In another development, GoHealthInsurance.com announced Monday that it has become the first
private insurer to integrate with the so-called Federal Data Service Hub --- which includes IRS,
citizenship and other personal information. As the extent of the site's problems became apparent,
officials lowered the bar on that goal -- vowing instead to significantly improve the site by the end of
the month.Â
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday that improvements to the site are on schedule,
including faster response times, and that it should be able to handle 50,000 concurrent users.
"If there are more than 50,000 people trying to use the website, individuals can choose to receive an
email from CMS when the traffic on the website has been reduced," he said.Â
Administration officials have also been encouraging Americans to submit written applications,
contact call centers or visit sign-up centers to enroll for insurance.Â
They continue to say the site will be working smoothly by the end of the month for "a vast majority of
Americans." And last week, they extended the enrollment deadline from Dec. So Americans can now
use that as well to bypass the federal site and enroll in health plans under ObamaCare that kick in
next year.
The company also said the process includes the capacity to calculate the subsidies.
As for the CMS announcement, Bataille said the pilot project will help improve the overall direct
enrollment option because insurers and enrollees will provide federal officials with "detailed
feedback on their experience."
. 23 to get insurance coverage starting Jan. "By strengthening the multiple channels to enroll in
quality, affordable coverage ... 30 deadline.Â
Officials originally vowed to fix the site by then. 30 deadline for fixing the site is just days away, and
officials acknowledge it may not be fully operational by then.Â

2. The pilot program announced by CMS
would initially launch for residents in
Ohio, Florida and Texas, and is the
latest effort to give users an alternative
to the troubled site.Â
"This is one more way we are working
to offer consumers a variety of ways to
enroll in affordable coverage," agency
spokeswomen Julie Bataille said in
announcing the pilot project. 15 to Dec.
we are ensuring that every American
who wants it can gain access to these
new coverage options."
Bataille said that direct enrollment has
"been there from the start." But the
option was limited by the website
problems, which have been fixed to the
extent that insurance companies can now send applications to the site to assess enrollees' eligibility
for coverage and potential discounts on premiums, she said.
Though the option could help Americans frustrated by the HealthCare.gov's crashes, slow response
times and other problems, it is another acknowledgement that the site probably will not be working
for everybody by the administration's Nov