The online marketplace for health insurance opened Tuesday, and local agencies are gearing up to help the residents of Brazos County without insurance to find coverage.

The first day for uninsured Texans to find health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act got off to a rocky start, with technical difficulties grinding the government health care website to a halt. While the website struggled to accommodate the online traffic, local offices and groups found the new market got off to a quiet start.

The Brazos Valley Community Action Agency and St. Joseph said there was little to no activity from residents wanting to explore the new health care options on the first day.

"It's Day One and this is a six-month open enrollment period, so if someone goes on the site or didn't try it today because they were confused about what it meant, that's absolutely OK," said Tim Ottinger, vice president of communications and marketing with St. Joseph. "There is a lot of time for them to become educated and informed about getting health insurance."

Much of the publicity for the new exchange marketplace and options for the uninsured is yet to come. HealthPoint, St. Joseph, Project Unity and the Brazos Valley Council of Governments are forming a coalition to coordinate efforts to share information and put people in contact with counselors in the community. There will also be presentations and plans to set up at different locations for people to get registered on site.

United Way of the Brazos Valley is also taking calls at 2-1-1 to help direct people who may have questions about the health care law.

Eric Todd, clinical CEO of HealthPoint, the health services division at BVCAA, said there will soon be a campaign to publicize an 800 phone number where residents can locate a counselor in the area who will walk them through their health care options.

HealthPoint has nine certified counselors who went through the federal training program to help prepare people to find their way through the online marketplace registration. Those counselors got between five and seven hours of training, and three more employees of HealthPoint are going to be certified this week. There are also navigators, who took about 30 hours of training and can help both individuals and small businesses extend insurance to their employees and take advantage of tax credits.

Ottinger said counselors will be available to sit down on site and talk about what kind of service might be appropriate. There are multiple levels of coverage depending on age, health, family size and financial situation, and the counselors will help determine which is the best option for each individual.

Some may opt for a lower copay and deductible with a higher monthly cost if they need a lot of health services, but someone who is relatively healthy and won't often seek medical attention may go for a higher copay for a lower monthly cost.

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Health care overhaul sees shaky start in Brazos County