Nearly 6.6 million people selected health plans on the federal Obamacare exchange between Nov. 15 and Jan. 2, the Obama administration said Wednesday in its latest “snapshot” of activity in the law’s second go-around.
The figures released by the Health and Human Services Department reflect both returning customers who actively or automatically re-enrolled on HealthCare.gov and those who entered the exchanges for the first time.
“As we turn to the New Year, our focus is on helping every individual who is interested in quality, affordable health insurance to understand their options and to get covered,” HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said.
The figures do not reflect customers who selected plans on exchanges run by 13 states and the District of Columbia.
More than 600,000 customers had signed up on those exchanges through mid-December, but that data did not include returning customers in California and New York.
The missing data, combined with the weeks that lapsed since HHS’ last official report, mean enrollment in the state-run exchanges is much higher at this point.
HHS projected 9.1 million enrollments for 2015, a modest estimate that is much lower that congressional scorekeepers’ estimate of 13 million for the year.
The open enrollment period, which last until Feb. 15, has gone much more smoothly than last year’s sign-ups, which were marred by website glitches.
Obamacare is facing new challenges, though, from a Republican-led Congress intent on dismantling the law and a Supreme Court challenge that could invalidate the law’s subsidies in two-thirds of the states.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.