After costly failure last year, Massachusetts reports successful launch of new health exchange

Massachusetts officials say nearly five thousand people signed up for health coverage during the first two days of open enrollment under the state's revamped health insurance website.

Officials also said Monday that nearly seven thousand others took a first step toward enrollment by determining their eligibility for Health Connector plans that are compliant with the federal Affordable Care Act.

The successful rollout was in sharp contrast to a year ago, when a failed health exchange forced the state to place some 300,000 residents into temporary Medicaid coverage and led to a costly overhaul of the website.

Maydad Cohen, a special assistant to Gov. Deval Patrick, says the new website has proven stable and reliable.

The site logged a total of more than 57,000 visitors over the first two days of open enrollment.