WASHINGTON — The White House says the government’s health care website received 375,000 visitors by noon today.

That’s a surge in use on the first business day since Obama administration officials declared that the government’s beleaguered online insurance service was now able to accommodate a vast majority of users.

White House spokesman Jay Carney says the White House was expecting such a rush of traffic today to the healthcare.gov site.

The launch of the website on Oct. 1 proved to be disastrous. The administration spent the next two months working to upgrade the computer system.

Consumers were still experiencing delays on Monday. Carney says users were placed in a queue and advised when to return for speedier service.