Nearly 40,000 Kansans selected a health insurance plan using the federally run marketplace during the first month of open enrollment, far more than the 1,800 who signed up after two months of enrollment last year.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released its first detailed analysis of Health Insurance Marketplace activity Tuesday. It said 53 percent of the Kansans who signed up between Nov. 15 and Dec. 15 were new customers.

A nationwide total of 3.4 million people selected plans in the 37 states, including Kansas, that use the federal insurance exchange, HealthCare.gov. Last year, when the website experienced severe dysfunction, about 360,000 people had selected a plan after the first two months.

All of those signed up by Dec. 15 will begin receiving coverage Jan. 1. The open enrollment season ends Feb. 15.

Jordan Rickabaugh, the eastern Kansas navigator coordinator for the Kansas Association for the Medically Underserved, said the reason for the increase in sign-ups compared to a year ago is mostly a website that works.

“Last year the website really wasn’t fully functioning until pretty close to when the deadline was up for coverage that would start Jan. 1,” she said.

Being in its second year, there’s naturally a greater awareness among the public to use the marketplace, Rickabaugh added. Increased penalties for not having health coverage would also encourage more people sign up, she said.

The report said about 80 percent of Kansas customers this year were eligible for financial assistance to lower their premiums, compared to 74 percent “over a similar period” last year.

However, Rickabaugh, who works out of Heartland Community Health Center in Lawrence, said there are still people who “fall in that gap” and are left unsatisfied with their plans. She said that after Kansas declined to expand Medicaid eligibility, many people “don’t have any options that are affordable.”

“And then I have people who maybe have had their work insurance change or they aren’t able to add their dependents for an affordable rate,” Rickabaugh said. “There’s quite a bit of variation” in satisfaction.