Obamacare gets almost half-million customers in first week

About 462,000 people signed up for Obamacare coverage in the first week the federal enrollment system was open for business, the government said today, confirming a turnaround for the program in its second year.

The government released the first of what it said would be weekly snapshots of health insurance sign-ups for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Enrollment in plans began Nov. 15 and ends Feb. 15.

Last year, the U.S. system people use to shop and sign up for plans collapsed on its first day of business, and was followed by months of delays and errors.

Anchored by healthcare.gov, the system was rebuilt this year and put under new leadership. "We had a solid start, but we have a lot of work to do every day between now and February 15," the U.S. health secretary, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, said in a statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Wayne in Washington at awayne3bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Crayton Harrison at tharrison5bloomberg.net Drew Armstrong, James Callan