AP

Fewer than 50,000 people signed up for health insurance through HealthCare.gov through the first week of November, The Wall Street Journal reports.

That number is a far cry from the 500,000 sign-ups the Obama administration expected in the first month alone. The Journal reports that between 40,000 and 50,000 people have successfully navigated the dysfunctional website to purchase private insurance.

The Obama administration is expected to release official numbers sometime this week.

The news comes amid the disastrous launch of the Affordable Care Act website which serves 36 states in which the federal government controls the insurance exchanges. The White House has said that HealthCare.gov is fixable, and has said that it will be working "smoothly" by Nov. 30.

Both Marilyn Tavenner, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Secretary of Human and Health Services Kathleen Sebelius told congressional panels last week that early enrollment numbers were expected to be low.





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