Despite failed projections, more Coloradans now signing up for Obamacare

Connect for Health Colorado, the state's insurance marketplace or purchasing hub, says that number is up from 10 days ago when the enrollment total was 10,000. The organization is working to enroll as many as possible by the new year and has brought on extra staff to help reach its goals.

Still, board members at the agency are worried about those who might face a gap in insurance coverage if they don't see their applications processed in just two weeks. Lindy Hinman, an executive behind the organization's aggressive enrollment efforts, said lots of people are somewhere in the middle of it all -- they've created accounts, but haven't yet finalized things by purchasing a new policy.

"We have about 80,000 accounts that have been created and have not resulted in enrollment yet," Hinnman said.

The Connect for Health board has voted to allow private insurance brokers to follow up separately with those individuals.

"They may be able to make that more personal outreach and bring people into enrollment," Hinman added.

Although enrollment totals are still far below initial projections, the recent uptick in sign-ups is welcomed by the agency as progress resulting from re-focused efforts.

"I think we've taken a lot of steps to improve the process, and we are increasing our outreach efforts," Connect for Health spokesperson Myung Kim said. "People know there's a deadline [of December 23 to enroll for coverage that takes effect the first of the new year], and so they're coming in to finish the process."