This Wednesday is the application deadline for Oregonians seeking financial assistance for health insurance through Cover Oregon in 2014.

Nearly 3,500 people have enrolled through Cover Oregon so far.

Enrollment is scheduled to remain open until the end of March.

Heres a list of the deadlines coming for Oregonians seeking coverage through the exchange:

Dec. 4 Those seeking financial assistance need to submit or postmark their application today.

Dec. 15 People buying individual insurance need to select a plan and enroll in order to have coverage by Jan. 1. Anyone who isnt worried about a break in coverage has longer, until March 31, to sign up.

Dec. 31 Those who signed up must pay the insurer by this date to start coverage.

March 31 Open enrollment ends.

The state exchange got off to a troubled start, its website dogged by technical problems from the launch. Recently the state shifted to hand-processing applications until online fixes could be made.

Earlier this week, Cover Oregon director Rocky King announced he was taking medical leave for three months. Bruce Goldberg, the director of the Oregon Health Authority, was named to take the reins temporarily of the health insurance exchange, and a search committee is seeking a longer-term replacement.

The Associated Press reported that nearly 500 people have been reassigned or hired to process applications by hand.

According to the AP report:

Officials announced Monday that the first 219 people have enrolled in private insurance. About 3,200 have enrolled in Medicaid.

More than 54,000 applications have been received so far. Many of them are incomplete, King said, requiring workers to follow up with applicants to fill in missing information.

And 40,000 of those applications have yet to go through eligibility determination _ that’s not counting the applications that will be filed over the next two days. For coverage that begins Jan. 1, applications must be postmarked by Wednesday.

In a report to the board, Cover Oregon officials said they would complete all application determinations for tax-credit eligibility and mail enrollment packets back to applicants by the end of this week. Officials did not say how they would process such a large number of applications in a matter of days.

Once Oregonians receive their enrollment packets, they must choose a plan and mail the packet back to Cover Oregon by Dec. 15.

For more information, visit www.CoverOregon.com or call 1-855-CoverOR.