Louisiana’s top health-insurance provider said that not a single person enrolled in its new health-care plans offered through the Affordable Care Act on its first day.

An executive with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana told the Times-Picayune that the agency was unable to sell plans because customers were unable to access the HealthCare.gov website due to its website’s sluggishness. “It was not as intense as we had anticipated,” the company’s vice president of communication said of the company’s sales. He urged supporters and critics, however, to “take a deep breath and relax” and assured them that the website would eventually allow consumers to enroll in a plan.


According to the newspaper, the company spent $60 million in preparation of the October 1 rollout, but the website continued to stall on the day it opened. One interested applicant spent five hours trying to get onto the site, but eventually resorted to calling a customer-service representative and was told she would receive plan options via e-mail.

The other Louisiana companies offering plans available through the Affordable Care Act said they are still waiting on numbers from the program’s first day.