KY took additional steps to help enroll people in health plans

March 31 was the deadline for open enrollment in the federal- and state-run health insurance exchanges, and Kentucky is one state that embraced signing more people up for insurance benefits.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Kentucky had to increase its number of call center operators and extend the center's hours of operation to field applications and answer questions from people in the state about its marketplace website, Kynect. Throughout March, approximately 3,000 people a day signed up for benefits through the website, with about 340,000 already enrolled, the news source reported. Three-quarters of enrollees had been previously uninsured. 

Yahoo News reported 2,500 people in one of the state's poorest regions signed up for insurance benefits through the website. According to the news source, Gov. Steve Beshear sought ways to prevent the state's insurance exchange from being funded with tax-payer money to minimize how many resources the website takes from the state. The governor even said he is working on a second phase of the website that is "a kind of Obamacare 2.0 that seeks to build on insurance expansion in Kentucky," Yahoo News reported.