It's the opening days of the Affordable Care Act's insurance exchanges and consumers nationwide are enrolling in record numbers. In New York, too, it's been "a very busy opening week," said Donna Frescatore, executive director of New York State of Health, the state's official marketplace for health care plans. "It's very early in the open enrollment period, but we're seeing lots of shopping, which is very encouraging."

Frescatore said the hotline took more than 73,000 calls in the first three days. "On the first day alone," she added, "people looked at 1.6 million pages on our site." Site volume was up 29 percent compared with the start of sign up last year.

Once people log on, Frescatore said, more of them are completing their applications. "People are choosing their plans right away," she said.

One reason for the high volume, Frescatore said, is that "unlike the federal marketplace, we have not cut our budgets for advertising or marketing, or for in-person assisters and navigators."

In New York, new customer enrollment began November 1; renewals are scheduled to start November 16. The deadline for coverage to begin January 1, 2018, is December 15. But residents have until January 31 to sign up for an insurance plan. 

About 4 million people - 20 percent of New Yorkers - buy insurance through the NY State of Health marketplace. For most consumers, the price of their plans after tax credits will be about the same as or lower than the cost of coverage in 2017.

Despite worries among some Democrats that Trump administration cutbacks would dampen turnout, more than 200,000 people signed up for an Obamacare plan on November 1 - the first day of open enrollment. That is twice as many consumers as last year.