HealthCare.com Raising $7.5 Million as HealthCare.Gov Begins Again

HealthCare.com, a company that provides an online market for insurance, is raising $7.5 million in funding to expand its services — just as the U.S. government’s healthcare.gov begins its second year of enrolling patients under Obamacare.

Backers of the closely held site include Jeffrey Boyd, chairman of Priceline Group, and Robert Mylod, that company’s former vice chairman. Priceline is the owner of travel sites priceline.com and Kayak.

HealthCare.com, founded in 2006, will be able to capitalize on demand for clear information as consumers move from employer- sponsored insurance plans to coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Boyd said in a statement.

The government’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services opened healthcare.gov for “window shopping” last weekend, letting consumers compare prices, and will start accepting enrollment for 2015 on Nov. 15. The website is operating well and has undergone extensive testing to avoid the bugs that plagued it when enrollment started last year, Andy Slavitt, the agency’s deputy director, told reporters last weekend.