December 12th, 2014 by WCBC Radio

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says more than 80,000 residents have enrolled in health coverage through the state's insurance exchange since November 15th, when the second enrollment period began. 

DHMH is pushing eligible residents to enroll or renew their plans by this Thursday  for insurance that starts on New Year's Day.

The newly designed website, using software developed for Connecticut, apparently works better than the one that crashed last year just after it opened last October.

Officials are urging people who enrolled during the first period to re-enroll, partly because newly available plans might offer a better deal.

The nearly new enrollments include about 45,000 in private insurance plans and about 35,000 in Medicaid.