Health insurance plan selections significantly increased during the ninth week of the second open enrollment period of the Federally Facilitated Marketplace, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Since the second open enrollment period started on Nov. 15, 2014, and through Jan. 16, the HHS has received 7,156,691 plan selections from the federal marketplace exchange, not from the state-based marketplaces. The plan selections represents the "preliminary total of those who have submitted an application and selected the plan that best fits their needs." For specifically week nine, between Jan. 10 and Jan. 16, the federal marketplace received 400,253 plan selections, which is an increase compared from the 163,050 plan selections

The increase during week nine likely stemmed from the Jan. 15 deadline that would give consumers health insurance coverage by Feb. 1.

"With just four weeks before the Feb. 15 deadline and the end of Open Enrollment, more than 7.1 million consumers are counting on the Marketplace for affordable health coverage," HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell said, according to the HHS website. "Last week, just before the deadline for Feb. 1 coverage, approximately 400,000 people across the country selected a plan that worked for their family.

"Time is running out," Burwell added.

HHS noted 675,940 completed applications were submitted, although eligibility requirements may still be determined.

Contacts to the English and Spanish language call centers also increased. For week nine of the second open enrollment period, HHS disclosed 128,189 calls were made to a Spanish-speaking representative. Since Nov. 15, 2014, more than 798,442 calls were made to the Spanish-language call center. Calls for the English-language call center also increased from 715,180 during week eight to 1,327,679 calls during week nine. Since Nov. 15, 2014, the English call center received over 9,455,476 calls.

The English and Spanish websites -- Healthcare.gov and CuidadoDeSalud.gov -- also increased during the ninth week. For the English-language Healthcare.gov, HHS noted 3.7 million users visited the website, which helped increased its cumulative totals since Nov. 15 to 21 million users. The Spanish-language website, CuidadoDeSalud.gov, attracted 152,385 users during week nine. Since the start of the second enrollment period, the Spanish-language website garnered 774,789 users.

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.

According to HHS, Florida is accountable for the most plan selections between Nov. 15, 2014, and Jan. 16, with 1,270,995. Texas ranked second with 918,890 plan selections followed by Georgia and Pennsylvania with 425,927 and 422,284 plan selections, respectively.

As Latin Post reported, Burwell said 2.6 million Latinos between the ages of 18 and 64 years old gained health insurance since October 2013, and 8.8 million Latinos with private insurance now have more access, but "still more needs to be done."

"Latinos' help is vital for the country," Burwell said, noting 10 percent of the HHS' paid media coverage was toward the Latino community last year, and this year it's "nearly a third."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.

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