WASHINGTON – The Obama administration has delayed signing final agreements with insurance plans that are to be sold on federal health insurance exchanges beginning October 1, a critical step to the launch of the nation’s new healthcare law, Reuters reports.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified insurance companies this week that it would not sign the agreements between September 5 and 9 as planned, but would wait until the middle of the month. According to HHS spokesperson Joanne Peters, the delay will not impact the marketplaces for their October 1 launch.

Peters said the delay was so that the government could respond to “feedback” from the companies, "providing additional flexibility and time to handle technical requests."

Experts said that even a small delay could jeopardize the start of the six-month enrollment period.

The October 1 deadline has begun to falter at the state level, with Oregon announcing that it would scale back the launch of its own marketplace. California said it is considering a similar move.

The delay announced this week affects insurance plans in 34 of the 50 U.S. states. The remaining 16 states are establishing their own marketplaces.

"It makes me wonder if open enrollment can start on October 1," said a former administration official who worked to implement Obama's healthcare reform. "But having everything ready on October 1 is not a critical issue. What matters to people is January 1, which is when the coverage is supposed to start. If that were delayed, it would be a substantive setback."