Healthcare.gov Upgrades To Go Live Dec. 1

Healthcare.gov, the website that serves as a marketplace for private and public health insurance plans for Americans, is getting more upgrades. The servers and software will be upgraded, some fixes will be made, by Sunday, Dec. (tomorrow.) This will allow up to 50,000 people to access the site at the same time, up from about 20,000 as of this moment.

The website has been improving over the past few weeks, and enrollment is spiking as a result. In October, only 27,000 people managed to sign up for a health insurance plan. But last week, 20,000 people were able to sign up in just three days' time.

The Obama administration's goal for the program is to enroll 7 million people in health insurance plans by Mar. 31, 2014. But even at last week's much-improved rate, that number will only be about 1.1 million people by deadline. More improvements to the system will be necessary if the deadline is to be met.

The upgrades are the latest in a long line of $9 million worth of hardware and software upgrades to the site. It will likely cost millions more to get it to the point it can handle the projected 7 million users. Note that the website isn't the only way to sign up for health care through the program. Recipients can also enroll by phone, mail, or in person.

SOURCE: New York Times