Managers of HealthCare.gov say the open enrollment period for 2017 has gotten off to a busy start.
The level of activity during the first six hours of the open enrollment period was 50 percent higher than during the comparable period in 2015, and HealthCare.gov took in 150,000 coverage applications during the first full day of the enrollment period, according to officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
HHS set up HealthCare.gov to provide Affordable Care Act exchange enrollment and account administration services in states that are unable or unwilling to handle that job themselves.
The open enrollment period for 2017 started Tuesday.
A year ago, HHS officials said HealthCare.gov had taken in about 250,000 coverage applications during the first full day of the open enrollment period for 2016.
MNsure, Minnesota's state-based exchange enrollment system, was down much of the day yesterday because of some combination of heavy volume, technical glitches and efforts by ACA opponents to crash the system by flooding it with visits. In spite of the technical problems, about state residents used the system to apply for coverage for about 5,000 people, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press.
