Fewer than 50,000 people have managed to enroll in health plans through the federal health insurance exchange site, HealthCare.gov, people familiar with the matter have told The Wall Street Journal.
The Obama administration previously estimated nearly 500,000 people would enroll using the site in October, according to the report. HHS spokeswoman Erin Shields Britt told the Wall Street Journal she couldn't confirm the enrollment numbers, but federal officials expect initial figures will be low and will increase over time.
Ms. Shields Britt also said the technical problems with the federal site would lead to lower enrollment numbers than originally anticipated, echoing what HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the Senate Finance Committee last week.
During the past month, Secretary Sebelius said nearly 700,000 applications have been submitted to the federal and state-based marketplaces, and HealthCare.gov has had more than 20 million unique visits.
Since its launch last month, the federal exchange website has experienced numerous technical issues, such as people not being able to create accounts, frustrating consumers and drawing criticism from the healthcare reform law's opponents. Secretary Sebelius said HHS is working "around the clock" to fix the site and is already seeing improvement. For example, users can now successfully create an account.
HHS is expected to release official enrollment numbers this week.
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