President Barack Obama answers questions during a press conference in the East Room of the White House August 9, 2013 in Washington.
More than 1.1 million people have signed up for health care using the federal insurance exchange, White House officials said on Sunday.
Almost 1 million enrolled in December alone, meeting a Christmas Eve deadline to begin receiving coverage on Jan. 1, the Associated Press reports. The surge of enrollment was in part due to sweeping fixes to the glitch-riddled site, according to Marilyn Tavenner, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The federal health care marketplace saw only 27,000 people sign up in October and 137,000 in November. Though surpassing the million mark is a positive sign for President Barack Obama’s landmark health care reform, the Administration had hoped that more 3.3 million Americans would sign up for insurance through federal and state exchanges by year’s end.
White House officials have yet to release data on the 14 states managing their own exchanges. Figures for December are expected next month. The Administration is aiming to sign up 7 million Americans before the first-year open-enrollment period ends in late March.
[AP]