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Enroll America organizer Neil Rickett visits restaurants and bars in Philadelphia to make a pitch for health coverage to bartenders, waitresses and other staffers. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)

COLUMBUS, Ohio The pitch for health care coverage is being made at nail salons, pizzerias, mosques and even bars.

As the second enrollment period under President Barack Obamas health care law begins, advocates are employing new tactics and expanding old ones to reach people who need insurance. Some are targeting populations they believe slipped through the cracks during the last enrollment period.

Weve had great success at laundromats, said Robin Stockton, navigator program director for the Center for Family Services, a nonprofit based in Camden, N.J.

The informal chat between wash-and-dry cycles can pique interest and lead some customers to call their hotline for more information, she said. Typically, the question you get back is: Is this that Obamacare thing?

Open enrollment started Saturday and runs until Feb. 15. The HealthCare.gov website, where people can sign up and search for coverage, appeared to be running smoothly Saturday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell tweeted that the website opened shortly after 1 a.m., with more than 23,000 people submitting applications within the first eight hours. She said 1.2 million unique visitors looked at coverage using the sites window-shopping tool in the past week.

The Obama administration aims to have 9.1 million paying customers enrolled in 2015. Thats well below the 13 million that the Congressional Budget Office had projected.

In Philadelphia, Enroll America organizer Neil Rickett is armed with a list of 500 bars and restaurants as he makes his way through downtown, popping in and out of eateries. He approaches bartenders, wait staff and other service industry workers whose high turnover and odd hours often result in a lack of health coverage. He gets workers contact information and, in some cases, schedules appointments to meet with them during staff meetings.

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Health care push comes to bars, salons, restaurants