Fewer than 50,000 people have been able to navigate their way through the troubled Healthcare.gov website to sign up for benefits. The tally falls well short of the projected 500,000 that the Obama administration planned to have by this time, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The drastically low numbers have some insurers concerned that they may not reach the higher enrollment needed to make their plans profitable.
Since the launch of Healthcare.gov, the crown jewel in the Obama administration's shift toward creating universal health care, there have been glitches. People complained early on that navigating the site was difficult.
Technology problems and design flaws blocked users from completing applications. Some users weren't even able to create accounts.
The administration had estimated that 500,000 would be enrolled by this date, according to internal memos, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Health and Human Services spokeswoman Erin Shields Britt said Monday she couldn't confirm the enrollment numbers. She added that officials expected the largest share of enrollees to sign up later.
"We have always anticipated that initial enrollment numbers would be low and increase over time, just as was the experience in Massachusetts, where only 0.3 percent, or 123 people paying premiums, enrolled in the first month," Shields Britt said. "As we have said, the problems with the website will cause the numbers to be lower than initially anticipated," the Wall Street Journal reports.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal.