The first full week of the second open enrollment period of Healthcare.gov, the federal health insurance marketplace, had a "solid" start, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Sylvia Burwell.

Following a press call on Wednesday, the HHS noted "millions" of people have either contacted the in-person assisters, spoke to a call center representative or visited both English and Spanish websites of Healthcare.gov. Burwell provided statistics following the first full week of Healthcare.gov's second open enrollment period, which did not include data from state-based marketplace exchanges.

Between Nov. 15 and Nov. 21, the HHS encountered 462,125 plans selected, which comprised 52 percent of consumers renewing their health insurance coverage and 48 percent representing new consumers.

"We had a solid start, but we have a lot of work to do every day between now and February 15," said Burwell. "People are ready to get covered, and visitors to HealthCare.gov are seeing more competition, affordable options and an improved consumer experience."

Based on data provided by the HHS, 1.03 million applications were submitted from both new and returning consumers. While the average call center wait time was three minutes and five seconds, the call centers' volume gathered 1,069,378 calls.

The average wait time for a Spanish-speaking representative was 10 seconds and 101,864 calls were made to Spanish-speaking representatives.

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In regards to Healthcare.gov, 3.74 million users visited the federal health insurance website. The Spanish-equivalent website, CuidadoDeSalud.gov, accrued 95,730 users.

As Latin Post reported, the HHS has prepared for the second open enrollment period with security and technical upgrades to avoid mishaps from the October 2013 first open enrollment launch.

"We've tested and retested our systems, putting ourselves through some of the industry's most stringent protocols to ensure we're taking the steps necessary to safeguard consumers' personal information," Burwell said, adding its cyber-security team was enhanced with a team ranging from public and private sectors.

According to HHS, 37 states use the federal marketplace since these states have not adopted a local-level health insurance exchange website. The 37 states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Enrollees who select a plan by Dec. 15 could start receiving their coverage starting Jan. 1, 2015. The second open enrollment period concludes Feb. 15. Obtaining health insurance from Healthcare.gov is only valid for U.S. citizens still living within the country. Individuals who chose not to receive health insurance will pay a higher penalty fee for 2015 than the rate set in 2014. For 2015's rates, the penalty is 2 percent of the individual's income or $325 per adult and $162.50 per child, "whichever is more."

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