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Health law backers have stepped up efforts to persuade people aged 18 to their mid-30s to give Obamacare a chance. Reaching this demographic group is viewed by many as one of the overhaul's biggest challenges.

Criticism of limited provider networks is emerging in at least a half a dozen states as consumers realize that their Affordable Care Act insurance may not include the physicians or hospitals they've been seeing.

Wellpoint and other insurers face a new set of decisions as a result of the Obama administration's proposed "fix," which would allow them to renew individual plans that don't include all the benefits required by the overhaul.

Under the president's plan, insurers will be permitted to extend this year's policies into next year, but it's far from clear that insurers will want to follow through. Some state regulators may not even let them.

Numbers released by the government Wednesday deepened doubts about the law's immediate viability, and proposed fixes have shortcomings.

Unions want their plans exempted from the reinsurance tax, but the Obama administration may not do so until 2015.

The health law is being blamed for policy cancellations and replacement rate shock. But in Alabama, some say a lack of competition among insurance companies is a big part of the problem.

The federal health insurance marketplace continued to frustrate consumers Wednesday with delays and software failures, but some people also reported progress.

Among the insights: Competition lowers prices, options vary widely by location, and insurers think consumers prefer low premiums to low copays and deductibles.