ObamaCare's HealthCare.gov is now open for 2015 window shopping

ObamaCare's HealthCare.gov is now open for 2015 window shopping
(Image credit: HealthCare.gov)

HealthCare.gov is hoping to get a second chance to make a first impression. Thirteen and a half months after its infamously rocky launch, the ObamaCare federal health insurance exchange website opened for shopping on Sunday night. People can't enroll (or re-enroll) for next year's insurance policy until open enrollment starts Nov. 15, but the site will allow people to comparison-shop beforehand. The federal site serves 37 states.

Federal officials are encouraging people to return to window shop instead of automatically re-upping their plans from last year, because prices have dropped on a number of policies. The pre–open enrollment browsing was supposed to open Friday, and while "functionality has been ready for a while," says Andy Slavitt, HHS principal deputy administrator, "obviously we've been continuing to test it."

A new analysis of plans in 17 states and Washington, D.C., by the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found average premiums dropping in six states, rising up to 5 percent in 10 states, and rising more than 5 percent in two. A separate Kaiser Family Foundation look at plans in 16 states found slightly lower prices in general, but changes ranging from a 8.7 percent hike to a 15.6 percent drop. if you live in one of the 37 states that uses the federal site, you can check prices and plans here.

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Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.