Despite glitches of its own with long forms and delayed queries, Colorado Medicaid has a boom of applications for its half of the Affordable Care Act launch receiving troubled reviews elsewhere.

More than 16,000 Coloradans applying since the launch Oct. 1 appear to qualify for the Medicaid expansion that is one of two prime pillars of Obamacare health insurance reforms for 2014, state officials said Thursday.

Another 9,000-plus adults without children who were on a waiting list before Oct. 1 will also be enrolled in the Medicaid expansion on Jan. 1, according to the Medicaid office of the state Health Care Policy and Finance Administration.

The other pillar of the reforms, an independently operated state shopping exchange steering subsidies to individuals and small business, has had a slower start in Colorado. Connect for Health Colorado has reported about 226 individuals signing up for new coverage so far, though officials say they expect many people will shop for a time before enrolling.

Consumers complain of a long Medicaid application that must be filled out even if they know they won’t qualify and plan to use the exchange instead. Many also say instead of getting an instant answer on Medicaid, as planned, they wait weeks to move on to the next phase.

Medicaid officials said the systems sometimes delay applicants who have typed errors or missed a step. Medicaid is working to trim the 12-page paper application.

Colorado is one of 14 states running its own exchange. Congressional leaders Thursday sharply questioned Obama administration officials on major problems in the 36 states using a federal computer system.

Michael Booth: 303-954-1686, mbooth@denverpost.com or twitter.com/mboothdp