The online exchanges, where people can shop for private health insurance with the help of government subsidies, are the core of the Affordable Care Act’s promise of extending medical coverage to most of the nation’s 48 million uninsured.
Obama has set a Nov. 30 deadline for the site to be repaired, allowing what his administration calls “the vast majority” of customers to enroll.
Getting the federal exchange fixed soon is necessary because most Americans are required to have health insurance by March 31 or pay a fine of as much as 1 percent of their income. Almost all Americans are already covered, either through an employer or government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.