The Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare, requires individuals to have health insurance starting in January 2014. Yet with just eight months to go before an October online launch to get people signed up, much remains to be done to revamp an enrollment system that is antiquated and heavy on paperwork.

By January 2014, Californians who currently don't get insurance through an employer or can't afford individual market insurance will be able to apply for coverage through the state. Depending on their incomes, individuals either will buy insurance in the state's exchange, called "Covered California," or get coverage from Medi-Cal, the joint state-federal insurance plan for lower-income people.

The process of accessing coverage should be as easy and burden-free as possible. The old days of searching for paper pay stubs, bank statements, utility bills and other documents should be greatly reduced in this high-tech era, where states can check address, citizenship, employer and income information electronically and get people covered quickly -- without in-person lines, crowds or 45-day delays.

Early on, Gov. Jerry Brown had proposed amendments that would have the state stick with the current outdated paper verification system. But Health and Human Services Secretary Diana Dooley told The Sacramento Bee editorial board last week that has changed with new federal guidelines. Dooley said California is committed to checking residency and income electronically as a first choice, and where that doesn't work, using the old paper system as a backup.

This needs to get settled quickly. Information technology experts need to know now how the governor and legislators want verification to work so they can program it in time for the October enrollment launch.

As we move to a culture of coverage where individuals have to carry health insurance -- we need to eliminate excessive bureaucracy and unnecessary complexity. It is time to move California's enrollment system into the 21st century.

The governor and Legislature need to adopt a sense of urgency about this, as the enrollment launch is a short eight months away.