Washingtons Health Exchange Draws Thousands

Officials say that more than 9,400 people in Washington state have signed up for insurance in the first week of the state's new health exchange open enrollment period.

Numbers released Monday by the Washington Health Benefit Exchange show that 9,452 enrollments have been completed since the exchange went online Oct. 1. An additional 10,000 applications have been completed and are awaiting final payment process to be completed, officials said. In addition to the enrollment numbers, more than 10,000 additional applications for health plans have been completed through the site, but still need to have the final payment process completed.

The exchange's website had more than 837,000 visits by 165,332 unique visitors since last week. More than 39,000 accounts were set up, which means people filled out forms with their personal information but didn't necessarily finish their application or sign up for insurance.