Some Florida residents on Monday who tried to enroll in one of the health care plans available under the state's new Cover Florida program experienced difficulties finding information about the policies on the state's Web site, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports. The program launched on Monday. According to the Sun-Sentinel, the state Agency for Health Care Administration, which coordinates the program, was unable to publish contact or Web site information of the six insurance companies that were contracted to offer the policies (LaMendola, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 1/6).

The program is available to all state residents who have been uninsured for six months. Residents who lost coverage by being laid off, divorced or widowed, or who exhausted their COBRA benefits, are exempt from the six month requirement. Two insurers -- United Healthcare in Florida and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida -- are offering policies statewide, and four other insurers are offering coverage in specific regions of the state (Gentry, Florida Health News, 1/5).

Fernando Senra, a spokesperson for the agency, said that it expected to gather the information from the six companies and publish it online soon. Randy Kammer, vice president of regulatory affairs and public policy at BCBS, said that technical problems were delaying the Web site for its Cover Florida plans but that applicants for its plans would be insured by Thursday. United spokesperson Roger Rollman said that the company will not be ready to provide coverage to its uninsured applicants until March 1, although people were able to begin applying for coverage on Monday (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 1/6).