SALEM — Health insurance companies in Oregon can continue offering plans that do not meet the minimum requirements of the new federal health care law for one more year, the state insurance commissioner announced Friday.

The decision affects some 145,000 Oregonians who received notice their health insurance policies would be cancelled at the end of this year.

Insurance Commissioner Laura Cali’s decision Friday comes a day after President Barack Obama reversed course to allow consumers to keep low-premium, high-deductible insurance plans that fall short of the Affordable Care Act.

“If an insurer chooses to offer extensions, it will need to notify the Oregon Insurance Division and contact customers directly about their options,” Cali said in a statement.

Obama faced mounting criticism to keep a campaign promise that Americans who liked their insurance plans would be able to keep them. His decision Thursday delayed a key component of the law that all insurance policies must meet certain requirements, such as offering maternity and mental health care services.

The intent of the law was to enroll consumers online in new plans in state health insurance exchanges. The Oregon website, Cover Oregon, was structured to allow consumers to browse plans and determine their eligibility for tax credits.

That, however, hasn’t happened. Cover Oregon launched on Oct. 1, but the website is still only partially functioning and officials are now urging consumers to rely on paper applications to enroll.

No Oregonians have enrolled using the Cover Oregon website. Instead, the state organized a series of application fairs around the state, including one Friday in Bend, at which applicants may start the enrollment process on paper.

“We’re in this difficult position because current insurance doesn’t fit the coverage standards and the state health insurance exchange, Cover Oregon, isn’t fully functioning. We’re not in a situation where people who receive those cancellation letters can just go to the Cover Oregon website and see and access those new plans,” said Jesse Ellis O’Brien, a health care advocate with the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group.

What the yearlong delay means for the state’s health insurance exchange is unclear.

“The prices that insurance companies posted and filed and had approved for the state (within the exchange) were filed based on the assumption that all the plans currently existing would go away … We don’t know how it will play out, but there is an uncertainty and it could play out in the marketplace,” O’Brien said, adding it could mean insurance companies file higher rates in the next year.

There is another wrinkle, too. Relatively young and healthy people entering the exchange’s risk pool is key to its success.

“In the individual health insurance marketplace, the people who have those plans right now, are the people who were able to get coverage, even when the health insurers were able to discriminate against sick people and those with pre-existing conditions, so they are on average healthier people … And if they don’t go in the insurance risk pool, it changes the nature of the insurance pool,” O’Brien said.

Although Obama authorized the one-year extension, state insurance commissioners decide whether to allow carriers to continue the plans, if the carriers chose to do so.

Kathy Jost, with PacificSource, said the company is re-evaluating its options and what might be available to customers. Jost said PacificSource was already working to extend some plans for three months.

“There are still many details to work out. Carriers will be meeting with the Insurance Division on Monday to learn more about rules. Our priority will be finalizing information as quickly as possible so that we can let our customers know about any changes,” she wrote in an email.

In Washington state, where the state-based health insurance exchange is working and has been able to enroll people, Mike Kreidler, the state insurance commissioner, decided against allowing insurance companies to extend their plans.

“I understand that many people are upset by the notices they have recently received from their health plans and they may not need the new benefits today,” Kreidler, a Democrat, said in a statement on his website. “But I have serious concerns about how President Obama’s proposal would be implemented and more significantly, its potential impact on the overall stability of our health insurance market.”

In a related development, Michael Cox, spokesman for Cover Oregon, confirmed that Cover Oregon Director Rocky King is on the hook to produce specific goals and deadlines for the board of directors by Friday outlining his plan to enroll applicants by Jan. 1. The board demanded information from King at its Thursday meeting.

“The questions that were asked and the things they were after are all fair questions, so, in terms of where we’re at, we’re dedicated to processing these applications and to get the system up and running,” Cox said.