HealthCare.gov — the federal site devoted to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act marketplaces —got 4.7 million visitors in its first 24 hours and continued to function slowly Wednesday, according to a report from The Hill.
HHS said it has expanded the site's capacity, according to the report. The health insurance exchanges have run into technical problems since they opened for enrollment yesterday because of heavier-than-expected Web traffic. President Obama compared the issues to a glitch Apple found and fixed during a recent rollout of a new mobile operating system. He told reporters at a press briefing this week that every new product rollout will encounter some technical problems.
The federal site for the exchanges now redirects some users to a holding page that allows them to keep their place in line instead of the error messages they received Tuesday, according to the report.
The exchanges are open for enrollment despite the government shutdown, which has forced many agencies overseen by HHS to operate at a reduced capacity. CMS is largely unaffected, and all insurance marketplace activities are proceeding as planned.
More Articles on Health Insurance Exchanges:
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