Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) — A working website and more new customers than expected has Obamacare headed toward enrollment that will blow past the lowered projections of its managers.

With the program's first deadline looming on Dec. 15, when people who want coverage beginning Jan. 1 must sign up, little has gone wrong so far in the second enrollment season for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Technical problems have been scattered and largely resolved. Consumer interest is strong, with 1.4 million people signed up through Dec. 5 in 37 states using the federal healthcare.gov system.

It's a dramatic turnabout from a year ago, when the federal website was brought to a standstill by errors, requiring a two- month repair effort. The government will probably surpass a goal of 9.1 million signed up for private coverage by the time enrollment closes in February, said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation.