With just 12 11 days to go before the first deadline to enroll in health plans under the Affordable Care Act, New Jersey residents are still having trouble getting on the federal website to purchase medical coverage.

Technical glitches with the website continue to stymie efforts by both individuals and the application counselors who are trying to help them. They have until Dec. 23 to enroll if they want coverage to begin on Jan. 1.

Counselors at the North Hudson Community Action Group, which has nine community health centers scattered across North Jersey, had been successfully enrolling about 50 clients a day using paper applications. But since federal officials told them recently to use the healthcare.gov website instead, they've been able to sign up only about a dozen each day, said Manny Diaz, the outreach supervisor for the group.

"It's not a smooth process at all," Diaz said. "The problems are very similar to before, just less frequently — people are getting error messages or screens that ask them to wait, and sometimes the wait is very long."

Joe Porzio, a 57-year-old construction worker in Wayne, has bought his own insurance through Aetna for years. When he received a letter saying his plan was being canceled by Dec. 31, he began looking at the federal marketplace for new options soon after it went live Oct. 1. He was eventually able to fill out an application, but the website locked him out and he has not been able to access it.

He finally completed a new application last week by phone but, as of Wednesday, was unable to access that one also. "The deadline is approaching, and I'm still in limbo," Porzio said. "I also found out that my doctors, who I have been seeing for years, will now only accept the highest offered plans. So, it's true, you have to pay to keep your doctors."