In order to buy coverage that will start on January 1, consumers must enroll in plans and pay initial premiums by the middle of December. If healthcare.gov is not working well by that time, consumers 36 states will have difficulty getting affordable coverage in time for the beginning next year. (It's a different story in the rest of the country, where states and the District of Columbia are operating their own exchanges, with much greater success.) [...] Zients also announced that performance has already improved considerably, thanks to repairs HHS and its contractors already made. Initially, he noted, most people could not even get past the initial screens. Now, he said, 90 percent of people who log on are able to create accounts successfully. That's just one step in the process of obtaining coverage -- a point Zeints acknowledged. "It's going to take a lot of work and some time," he said, "but there is a clear path forward."