While the federal government rushes to fix the bugs in its HealthCare.gov online Marketplace, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that fewer than 50,000 persons had enrolled in health care on the site through Nov. 1.
HealthCare.gov serves customers in the 36 states that declined to establish their own health insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
According to the WSJ, so far "private health plans have received enrollment data for 40,000 to 50,000 users of the federal marketplace, the people familiar with the figures said."
The government has vowed to release enrollment figures this week. Thus far it has said only that about 700,000 people had completed applications for health insurance in all 50 states, but completed applications are not the same as purchased policies, just an initial step.
Kentucky, whose marketplace site called "KYNECT" was designed by the same firm that created HealthCare.gov, reported more than 26,000 sign-ups through Nov. 1, but only 5,891 of them actual paying customers.
Kentucky's results are reflective of nationwide trends, according to the Washington Post, which claims that in many cases "nine out of 10 enrollees are in Medicaid."