New York’s Obamacare Website Has Received Nearly 30 Million Visits Since Tuesday

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during his storm recovery conference on July 18, 2013, in Albany, N.Y.
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The website of New York state’s newly launched health insurance exchange received almost 30 million visits between Tuesday and Wednesday.

The website has experienced technical difficulties since the exchanged opened for business on Tuesday. Officials have blamed the problems on the unexpectedly high level of traffic. In a statement on Wednesday, Donna Frescatore, executive director of NY State of Health, said her agency’s website had received more traffic than any other state’s.

“NY is one of only a few states that opened its website to the public to begin accepting applications on October 1 and has experienced the highest level of activity of any state,” Frescatore said. “Today, like all other states, New York’s website is experiencing significant levels of activity, which is causing some users to experience difficulty entering the site and delays in application processing. In response to these issues, our technicians have doubled the site’s capacity and are working around the clock to troubleshoot emerging problems and ensure users have a better experience going forward. It is expected that 1.1 million New Yorkers will obtain health insurance through NY State of Health by 2016.”

On Tuesday, Frescatore issued a statement saying her agency’s technicians would be looking into the cause of the “abnormally high traffic.” Her latest statement does not mention any investigation, and on Thursday a New York State Department of Health spokesperson declined to comment to TPM about any updates on that front.

Here’s Frescatore’s full statement: 

NY is one of only a few states that opened its website to the public to begin accepting applications on October 1 and has experienced the highest level of activity of any state.  New York State has been able help thousands of New Yorkers shop for low-cost health insurance online, through its call centers and at hundreds of local assistance sites around the state. Since the launch of the New York State of Health marketplace, more than 12 thousand business owners and individuals from across the State have shopped online for low-cost health insurance plans at nystateofhealth.ny.gov, and the site has received  nearly 30 million web visits.  In addition, the state’s customer service center operators have provided information to and answered questions from more than 9,000 New Yorkers.  Today, like all other states, New York’s website is experiencing significant levels of activity, which is causing some users to experience difficulty entering the site and delays in application processing. In response to these issues, our technicians have doubled the site’s capacity and are working around the clock to troubleshoot emerging problems and ensure users have a better experience going forward. It is expected that 1.1 million New Yorkers will obtain health insurance through NY State of Health by 2016.

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