Federal officials said today that during the first week of open enrollment for the health law鈥檚 online marketplaces, 462,125 people selected health plans, with just over half of those return customers.
The figures were the first weekly snapshot promised by the Department of Health and Human Services to provide details about exchange enrollment.聽 The figures are preliminary and cover enrollment from Nov. 15 through Nov. 21 in the federal exchange, used by residents of 37 states.
HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell called the numbers 鈥渁 solid start鈥� but added the agency has 鈥渁 lot of work to do every day between now and Feb. 15鈥� when .
The first week鈥檚 tally was a dramatic improvement over last year鈥檚, when 鈥榮聽myriad computer problems caused the site to malfunction for millions of people. Some state exchanges also had problems, .
During a call with reporters, HHS officials said now the website would be able to withstand peak demand periods, such as those predicted for Dec. 15, when consumers must sign up and pay their first month鈥檚 premium if they want their coverage to begin Jan. 1, and for Feb. 15 when the 2015 enrollment period ends.
Today鈥檚 report noted that the average wait time for the federal exchange call center was just over three minutes and that more than one million consumers had submitted applications for coverage.
HHS officials also announced aimed at boosting enrollment. Deals with Westfield Shopping Centers, the National Community Pharmacists Association and the , which owns popular websites such as The Knot, are part of the agency鈥檚 efforts to reach more consumers and provide them with information about the health law.