The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced approximately 2.5 million health insurance plans were selected since the start of the second open enrollment period, while calls from Spanish-speaking prospective enrollees are up by nearly 30 percent.

Healthcare.gov and the state-based health insurance marketplace exchanges started their second open enrollment periods on Nov. 15. Data provided by the HHS only detailed figures for the federal-based Healthcare.gov and the 2,466,562 plans selected during the first four weeks of the second open enrollment period (Nov. 15 through Dec. 12).

Specifically during the fourth week, 1,082,879 insurance plans were selected, which ended three days before the first deadline for consumers seeking health coverage as of Jan. 1, 2015. According to the HHS, most of the plans selected during Week Four were consumers renewing their coverage, or 53 percent, while the other 47 percent new consumers.

HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell stated she's "pleased" with the response during the second open enrollment period. Despite the progress, Burwell noted she's aware "a lot of work" has to continue ahead of the final deadline of the second open enrollment period on Feb. 15, 2015.

"People were ready to get covered and the vast majority are having a good consumer experience," added Burwell.

In regards to the nearly 2.5 million consumers who have selected plans through the federal marketplace, Burwell said, "This shows that millions of Americans want access to affordable quality health insurance and they came to the Marketplace to find it."

Usage of Healthcare.gov's Spanish-equivalent website and Spanish-speaking call centers also increased.

The Spanish website, CuidadoDeSalud.gov, encountered 117,289 users, which is an increase from Week Three's 98,336 users. For the first month, CuidadoDeSalud.gov had 348,760 users. The website hits for CuidadoDeSalud.gov is down significantly compared to Healthcare.gov, which accrued 3.74 million website users during the fourth week. In total, nearly 10.9 million users visited Healthcare.gov.

Calls for a Spanish-speaking representative increased from Week Three's 87,534 calls to 124,422 calls during Week Four--an increase of 29.65 percent week-to-week. With an average wait time of 12 seconds, the Spanish-speaking call center received 361,010 calls between Nov. 15 and Dec. 12. In comparison to calls for an English-speaking representative, the average wait time is 5 minutes and 59 seconds during the first month. Week Four, specifically, received 1.56 million calls. Throughout the four weeks, more than 4 million calls were made.

The federal HealthCare.gov and CuidadoDeSalud.gov are available for states without state-level health insurance marketplace exchanges. The HHS noted 37 states use the federal marketplace: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

People who applied for health coverage by Dec. 15 are eligible to receive their health insurance coverage as early as Jan. 1, 2015.

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