Thousands of more friendly and better-trained call-center employees will be working starting Monday to deal with the expected late onslaught of people signing up before the Obamacare open enrollment ends Feb. 15. A 40% increase, to a 14,000-person workforce, is expected to help with wait times, which averaged about 2 ½ minutes the last week of January, but are likely to get longer as the deadline nears. People who aren't covered by employer-provided insurance and don't sign up by the deadline won't be eligible for insurance this year and will face increasing penalties at tax time.
