Core and Group Health

As Texas residents encountered difficulties with the website for a second day, those trained to assist with the process said callers are simply asking for a nearby location where they can complete the process the old-fashioned way: in person and on paper.

The government limped into a third day of partial shutdown Thursday with no sign of a way out after a White House conversation between President Barack Obama and top congressional leaders seemed only to harden the stances of Democrats and Republicans.

Overloaded websites and jammed phone lines frustrated consumers for a second day as they tried to sign up for health insurance under the nation's historic health care overhaul.

A second day of technological snags kept some Iowa residents from comparing prices or enrolling in a plan on Iowa's new online health insurance marketplace Wednesday.

The pressure is on for the federal government and states running their own health insurance exchanges to get the systems up and running after overloaded websites and jammed phone lines frustrated consumers for a second day as they tried to sign up for coverage using the new marketplaces.

Twenty-two states now have new member-owned, nonprofit health plans.