Obamacare Enrollments Exceed 6 Million, Outpacing Last Years Sign-Ups
WASHINGTON ― Health insurance enrollments on the federal exchange marketplaces served by HealthCare.gov are outpacing last year’s sign-ups, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell announced Wednesday.
As of Monday’s deadline for customers who want coverage that will be in place by Jan. 1, 6.4 million people had chosen plans in the 39 states where federal authorities operate the exchanges, including more than 2 million new customers.
The overall total is an increase of 400,000 from a comparable period a year ago, Burwell said. The 2 million new enrollees is down from the 2.4 million new customers who signed up during the same period last year, however. Last Thursday was a record-breaking day for HealthCare.gov enrollment, President Barack Obama said last week.
“We’re going to finish this open enrollment by trying to enroll more people than ever,” Burwell said during a conference call with reporters. “Today’s enrollment numbers confirm that some of the doomsday predictions about the marketplace are not bearing out.”
The enrollment figures made public Wednesday don’t include current customers whose plans will automatically be extended by the end of the year or the enrollments in 11 states and the District of Columbia, which run their own exchanges. A final tally ― which Burwell said would include millions of additional people ― will be revealed in January.
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