Dive Brief:

• Federal officials are racing to complete testing and bug fixes for new shopping tools at HealthCare.gov before the third open enrollment period opens in less than two weeks.

• The website testing is being done in collaboration with insurers, and as the New York Times reports, those on both sides have already begun pointing the finger at each other for the unresolved issues.

• While insurers say government officials did not adequately test the tools, the feds say many insurers failed to submit data on their providers and drugs in the requested format by the requested date of Oct. 1. Only about half of insurers did so, they say.

Dive Insight:

The issue presents not only a potential new technical fiasco for HealthCare.gov but potential fallouf for insurers, who worry consumers might obtain incorrect data and blame them for inaccuracies.

Furthermore, the extended testing time means HealthCare.gov cannot launch its “window shopping” feature yet, which would have allowed visitors to begin their health plan research in advance of the enrollment period.

In the meantime, affected insurers are working to validate their data and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) is warning consumers they should independently confirm their preferred health plan actually does include their specific providers and medications before making their final selection.