I'm just going to make this short. It's pretty simple.
Next year, during the open enrollment period, allow states which manage their exchanges to open them a week or so earlier than the federal hub/exchange.
This will not only look good, but it will give incentive (Ha, I didn't write "incentivize!") to states to adopt their own exchanges.
Imagine the media coverage. Currently, the states which operate their own exchanges seem to be doing okay. The federal hub just checks the stuff to be sure they are eligible, and then ships them off to their final destination.
Media-
Day 1-
OBAMACARE open enrollment is on! Will the gates of hell open up? Let's debate that topic next on our new "Härd Nëws" show with guests Ronald Simpkin from the "Obamacare is going to kill us all" PAC, And Carlos Garcia Washington from the "Even though I'm a Democrat, I still think Obamacare could kill us all, maybe" PAC.
Day 2- This just in, a woman had to enter her social security number in order to get healthcare. She couldn't locate her card, and had to cancel the registration. NEXT- Has the dark lord come up through the open gates of hell? You decide...
Day 3- Up next! Three hours of coverage about the woman in Orange County who was able to get insurance for less through her husband's employer.
Day 4- Breaking, we have nothing to report about Obamacare, but what does Hitler think about healthcare? Let's debate that...
I am trying really hard to come up with a word to describe the states which have their own exchanges. The word, 'competent' comes to mind. So we have a week of news about the competent states enrolling people with decent cost, and low amounts of hassle. They happen to be the states that one would refer to as "blue."
The exchange would then have less immediate traffic, and the more challenging issue of making the website do something that it wasn't really intended to do would be lessened due to the staggered start.
Can you think of any reason why Sebelius couldn't do this?