The Washington Health Benefit Exchange (WHBE) announced today that visits to the Washington Healthplanfinder website and the number of new enrollees has surged in this year’s first week of open enrollment compared to last year’s.

WHBE reports that more than 320,000 visitors have looked at their coverage options this year online since November 1. That is a 24 percent increase in website visits compared to last year. They also found a more than 50 percent increase (4,550 compared to 2,964) in the number of new enrollees and a 30 percent increase in calls to their Customer Support Center.

This year Washington Healthplanfinder offered two new options to help consumers looking at their coverage options. In its first week, 49,592 people used Smart Planfinder (a health plan comparison tool), and 3,607 people downloaded the WAPlanfinder mobile app.

Washington Health Benefit Exchange’s full press release can be found here.

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