And obviously the majority of those who tried did not succeed because of website “glitches.”

Via NBC News:

Only 17 percent of people who don’t have insurance actually tried to buy some on the new health insurance marketplaces in October, a new survey published Monday shows. And just 20 percent of those who did try managed to buy a policy, the Commonwealth Fund survey finds.

The survey — by a group that is an unabashed cheerleader for health care reform — shows just how big a hill the Obama administration is going to have to climb to sign up anywhere near the 7 million people that most experts hoped would buy health insurance on the exchange the first year.

The findings were released just as Republicans on the House Oversight Committee fired their latest salvo in what’s been a steady barrage of leaks and disclosures aimed at embarrassing the administration. This time, the leak takes the form of notes from “War Room” meetings at the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance (CCIIO), the agency at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services that put together the exchanges.

The notes confirm what navigators trained to help people sign up for insurance have told NBC News and other outlets: that they, too have been frustrated and had to resort to filling out paper applications to keep people engaged in the process.