New HealthCare.gov goal: Enroll 80 percent of visitors online

Administration officials say they’ll deem HealthCare.gov a success if 80 percent of its visitors can buy health insurance plans online. 

Industry and government officials told The Washington Post the administration aims to reach that benchmark, which it had not made public.

The 80 percent goal represents the “vast majority of users” officials hope will be able to access the ObamaCare website by the end of November. Health and Human Services officials are working quickly to repair the site by the Nov. 30 deadline so it works smoothly for visitors.

{mosads}Twenty percent of people, however, may not be able to enroll online. The Post notes that group could amount to tens of thousands. Administration officials, according to the report, acknowledge one in five Americans who try to use HealthCare.gov will be unsuccessful. 

The 20 percent group falls into three categories, according to an unidentified government official in the report. They are people uncomfortable buying insurance on a computer, those who have technical problems on the site and people whose family circumstances are too complicated for the website to determine eligibility.

Last week, the HHS released a highly anticipated report detailing enrollment figures for the first month since the federal insurance marketplace launched. In October, only 106,185 people had enrolled in ObamaCare, and only 26,794 of them had done so through HealthCare.gov.

The numbers were far lower than the administration’s original target of 500,000 enrolled by the end of October.

The new 80 percent target marks the first benchmark set for the success of HealthCare.gov.