Heavy web traffic was reported on the first day of Illinois' health insurance marketplace. Officials with Get Covered Illinois say roughly 75,000 people visited the website by the end of the business day. Spokeswoman Kelly Sullivan says they were able to get a sense of how people were navigating various sections.
"They averaged six pages per visit. So they started reading about how you get enrolled, what kind of things you need to think and now about before you just pick a plan," Sullivan said.
Experts stress that consumers do plenty of research before making a decision. Those eligible have until mid-December to sign-up, if they want their coverage to begin on January 1st.
Meanwhile, some glitches were reported as enrollment got underway, especially when people were transported to the federal website. Sullivan says they were able to address many of the hiccups on the Illinois portal as the day progressed.
Also, Sullivan warns people using search engines that they might encounter websites with similar names. For example, Blue Cross Blue Shield has an outreach website called "Be Covered Illinois" - which has a similar look. Officials say to eliminate confusion, you should look for sites that end in dot-gov.