A Kansas Insurance Department official is advising consumers in her state to be patient in trying to buy health coverage through a new online insurance marketplace.

Linda Sheppard said Tuesday that glitches with the rollout of major new technology wouldn’t be unusual, even without the partial shutdown of the federal government.

Sheppard is the Insurance Department’s health policy director. The online health insurance exchange for Kansas is being run by the federal government.

Kansas consumers may be experiencing delays as they go online to buy health insurance coverage. Kansas congressman Tim Huelskamp declared that the exchange was not ready when it opened.

The marketplace website for Kansas was available midmorning Tuesday but a message said enough people were visiting that logging in could take time.