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From coast to coast, the fifth annual season for Americans to buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act opened on Wednesday with scattered reports of crowds, some technical difficulties and a public confused as never before by the political turmoil surrounding the law. The federal website HealthCare.gov said “2018 Open Enrollment is here,” as both it and state insurance marketplaces attracted the year’s first customers. They came despite a 90-percent reduction in federal advertising about the sign-up window and a decision by the Trump administration to send advance emails about enrollment to millions fewer Americans than in past years. (Goldstein, Eilperin and Itkowitz, 11/1)

Former President Barack Obama sought to boost his namesake health law Wednesday by appearing in a video urging people to sign up for coverage on the first day of the 2018 enrollment season. Obama’s call comes as the Trump administration has taken numerous actions to undermine the law while doing almost nothing to publicize the start of the six-week enrollment season that wraps up on Dec. 15. (Cancryn and Pradhan, 11/1)

Former President Barack Obama released a video urging people to sign up for ObamaCare as a new enrollment period — the first under a new president — begins on Wednesday. In the video, Obama said today is the first day to "get covered for 2018." (Savransky, 11/1)

Obama's tweet to his more than 95 million followers includes a short video, set to jaunty music, where the former president urges people to log on to the federal insurance exchange, HealthCare.gov, and sign up for coverage for next year. "It's November 1, which means today is the first day to get covered for 2018," Obama says. It's not clear where he's standing, but the ocean is in the background. (Kodjak, 11/1)

Having dodged multiple failed repeal-and-replace attempts this year, the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, will enter its fifth open enrollment period this week for individuals and families looking to buy health insurance plans for 2018. But consumers should be aware of several big changes: this year's shortest-ever enrollment period, planned outages to the Healthcare.gov website, and big premium price hikes that will be felt most acutely by those whose incomes disqualify them from receiving the health care law's government subsidies. (Reindl, 11/1)

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 93 percent of Illinois residents were insured in 2016, up by 3 percent from 2013. More than 350,000 Illinois residents enrolled through the marketplace in 2017, according to the The Illinois Department of Insurance. The department expects enrollment numbers for 2018 to remain consistent, hovering between 350,000 to 380,000, as they have for three years. ...The Department of Insurance hosted a press conference on Wednesday, announcing a partnership with GoHealth that will allow consumers to receive over the phone support from licensed insurance agents while shopping for coverage on Get Covered Illinois, the state’s online marketplace. The Get Covered website provides the all the marketplace options available on Healthcare.gov. (Hartz and Sweet, 11/1)

Minnesotans who buy insurance on the individual market could start signing up for plans Wednesday as politicians continued to debate the role government should play in providing citizens health insurance. Open enrollment for MNsure, the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace, began Wednesday and runs through Jan. 14 for the roughly 4 percent of the state population that purchases individual or small group insurance plans. Many other Minnesotans who get their insurance through work will also be making health care plan decisions as the end of the year approaches. (Magan, 11/1)

Open enrollment begins today for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and officials are urging those in need of coverage to shop around. Two insurers are offering plans for 2018, but average premium prices are soaring by double digits for most plans to reflect costs as well as the Trump administration’s policy changes to the federal health law known as Obamacare. (Cohn, 11/1)

About 72,000 Iowans who buy their own coverage have just one carrier choice, Medica, for individual insurance policies next year. Two other carriers, Aetna and Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield will no longer sell such policies here, because they said they lost too much money. Medica only agreed to stay in Iowa if it could raise premiums by an average of more than 57 percent. But more than 50,000 of the affected consumers, including Hanson, have incomes low enough to qualify them for subsidies that help pay premiums. The income limit for a single person is about $48,000. For a couple, it’s about $65,000. (Leys, 11/1)

The Health Connector website goes live Wednesday for hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents expected to shop for health insurance for the coming year. But after a year packed with pledges to repeal the Affordable Care Act and recent funding cuts, what’s left for many people is a lot of confusion. (Bebinger, 11/1)

Obamacare health insurance enrollment kicks off on Wednesday, and in the wake of President Donald Trump draining almost all funding to promote sign-ups, two Democrats and a Republican are stepping up to fill that void. Democratic governor candidate JB Pritzker is paying about $1 million to run radio and digital ads to run all across Illinois. (Sweet, 11/1)

The open enrollment period for Affordable Care Act exchange plans begins today and will bring with it a slew of changes for the roughly 207,000 Ohioans who get insurance on the exchange. A shorter enrollment period, less outreach and significant price changes will make ACA marketplace shopping a different experience than in years past. (Christ, 11/1)