The state’s health insurance exchange, a key provision of the Affordable Care Act, will not be ready for consumers to shop and compare health plans at the start of open enrollment today.

The online marketplace known as the Hawaii Health Connector is having software problems that will prevent consumers from comparing the various plans.

But officials hope to solve those problems by Friday, sources involved with the Connector told the Star-Advertiser.

“On Oct. 1, the Hawaii Health Connector will open its marketplace to consumers, allowing them to begin the application process,” Connector Executive Director Coral Andrews said in a statement.

“Coverage doesn’t start until Jan. 1, so there is plenty of time to sign up by Dec. 15.”

She went on to say that experts are available to answer questions and help individuals “fully understand their choices and options.”

“Over the coming months, consumers should continue to come back for additional information on their options to enroll in affordable coverage,” Andrews said. “Improvements will be made along the way to ensure that the people of Hawaii can obtain the coverage they want.”

The state and federal governments have spent millions of dollars urging people to enroll on the new marketplaces nationwide, where individuals who buy their own insurance or have no coverage, and small companies can compare premiums for different plans, calculate subsidies and enroll in policies.

The Connector has received $205 million in federal grants to market and build its state-based exchange, with an ambitious goal to enroll as many as 300,000 residents, including an estimated 100,000 uninsured.

But the Connector has already had a rough start. The nonprofit organization that the state Legislature established in 2011 came under fire early on for having health insurance company executives as board members helping to design the system.

In recent months small-business groups and AARP Hawaii have criticized the slow marketing campaign and the delayed contracting of so-called "marketplace assisters," assigned to seek out the uninsured and underinsured and enroll them on the exchange.

As today’s deadline approached, the bulk of consumers and small businesses still were confused about the new health plan options, with 77 percent, or 1,723 online readers of the Star-Advertiser not knowing the purpose of the Connector in an unscientific poll last month.

The exchange is the only place where consumers earning up to 400 percent of the Hawaii poverty level ($52,920 for individuals, $108,360 for a family of four) and small groups can apply for tax credits to reduce the cost of health insurance.

The Connector is set to offer 95 plans varying in coverage, premiums and out-of-pocket co-payments and deductibles by the  dominant carriers in the state, the Hawaii Medical Service Association and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. For instance, HMSA’s individual policies for a 21-year-old range from the lowest-priced “Bronze” plan at about $120 per month with deductibles as high as $6,350 covering 60 percent of medical costs to the highest-cost “Platinum” option with a $290 monthly premium, $100 deductible and 90 percent coverage.

President Barack Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, designed to make coverage affordable to all, requires most Americans to be covered as of Jan. 1 or face penalties of $95 next year, or 1 percent of income, whichever is greater. The penalties rise each year thereafter.

For enrollment questions, go to the Connector’s website (hawaiihealthconnector.com) and call 877-628-5076.