Nearly 30,000 Kansans have selected a plan on the health insurance marketplace, part of the Affordable Care Act, through the first of this month, the Department of Health and Human Services reported this week.

That means almost half of the 65,057 Kansans eligible for the marketplace enrolled during the five months it has been online. Nearly half of those eligible are available for financial assistance.

An additional 10,344 people in Kansas were found to be eligible for and enrolled in Medicaid through the marketplace. The state has thus far elected not to participate in the law’s Medicaid expansion, which supporters have said would extend health coverage to as many as 150,000 Kansas residents. Nearly 350,000 Kansans, including about 14,000 in Douglas County, were uninsured in 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

There are only about two weeks left for the health insurance marketplace’s open enrollment period, which ends March 31. In Lawrence, signup assistance is available at the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department, 200 Maine St., and Heartland Community Health Center, 1 Riverfront Plaza, Suite 100.