--- title: Obamacare Signups Over 450,000 After First Week description: Over 450,000 people signed up on healthcare.gov during the first week of open enrollment, compared to 125 last year. canonical: https://time.com/3607727/obamacare-enrollment-insurance/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-26T16:56:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:24:47.935Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obamacare Signups Over 450,000 After First Week og:description: Over 450,000 people signed up on healthcare.gov during the first week of open enrollment, compared to 125 last year. og:url: https://time.com/3607727/obamacare-enrollment-insurance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta42de16466e92423/69875f49cd1bba33e06f27bc/4df944e495c3f227610f6a7067006471.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1120 og:image:height: 630 og:image:alt: Health Overhaul Version 2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obamacare Signups Over 450,000 After First Week twitter:description: Over 450,000 people signed up on healthcare.gov during the first week of open enrollment, compared to 125 last year. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta42de16466e92423/69875f49cd1bba33e06f27bc/4df944e495c3f227610f6a7067006471.jpg?branch=production&width=1120&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Over 450,000 Have Signed Up for Health Insurance > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 26, 2014 4:56 PM UTC  This image shows the website for updated HealthCare,gov, a federal government website managed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service. The Obama administration has unveiled an updated version of HealthCare.gov. It’s got some improvements and some challenges. There’s also at least one early mistake. (AP Photo) This image shows the website for updated HealthCare,gov, a federal government website managed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service. The Obama administration has unveiled an updated version of HealthCare.gov. It’s got some improvements and some challenges. There’s also at least one early mistake. (AP Photo) Associated Press by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Nov 26, 2014 4:56 PM UTC Over 450,000 people [signed up for health insurance](http://www.vox.com/2014/11/26/7293429/obamacare-enrollment-first-week) via the healthcare.gov website during the first week of open enrollment, the Obama administration said Wednesday. The Department of Health and Human Services says 462, 125 people signed up for insurance between Nov. 15 and Nov. 21\. Nearly half of those enrollees were new customers, _Vox_ [reports](http://www.vox.com/2014/11/26/7293429/obamacare-enrollment-first-week). Last year during the first month of the rocky rollout of Obama’s signature health care law, only about 106,000 people signed up for insurance. Enrollment via the Spanish-language version of healthcare.gov, however, lags. The site has had about 95,000 users since the second enrollment period began. The release of figures after the first week is a part of an Obama Administration effort to be more transparent about how many people are signing up for insurance via the health care marketplace. \[[_Vox_](http://www.vox.com/2014/11/26/7293429/obamacare-enrollment-first-week)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3607727/obamacare-enrollment-insurance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3607727/obamacare-enrollment-insurance/"},"headline":"Over 450,000 Have Signed Up for Health Insurance","datePublished":"2014-11-26T16:56:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:24:47.935Z","description":"Compared to 125 last year this time","url":"https://time.com/3607727/obamacare-enrollment-insurance/","keywords":["Health Care","Obamacare"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta42de16466e92423/69875f49cd1bba33e06f27bc/4df944e495c3f227610f6a7067006471.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta42de16466e92423/69875f49cd1bba33e06f27bc/4df944e495c3f227610f6a7067006471.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Health Overhaul Version 2","caption":"Health Overhaul Version 2","creditText":"Associated Press","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/health-care/","name":"Health Care"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3607727/obamacare-enrollment-insurance/","name":"Over 450,000 Have Signed Up for Health Insurance"}}]}] ```