The White House wants to avoid a spate of damaging stories on Jan. 1 about people who are newly uninsured, having had their old plans canceled. The administration badly wants to change the narrative to millions who are newly covered in private health plans in the exchanges or through Medicaid, which was expanded under the Affordable Care Act.

HealthCare.gov itself displays a message that captures that sense of urgency: “We are working around the clock to make sure that anyone who wants coverage starting on Jan. 1 enrolls by Dec. 23.” People can sign up until March 31, but their coverage would start later.

(Also on POLITICO: Obama: More than a million new insured in December)

Insurers are anxious. They have to make sure that people are actually enrolled in the plans they selected, and the data they’ve gotten from the government, the so-called 834 files, have contained errors. The error rate has dropped sharply, HHS officials say, but with enrollment surging in late December, the health plans still have a huge task of reconciling their enrollment records with the government’s…

Coburn encouraged people who are facing high costs after plan cancellations to take that option. “Everybody who signed up and has a high deductible policy should go and cancel,” he said.