Three million Americans have now enrolled in private coverage through Obamacare, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday, reflecting a continued increase in sign-ups through the health care reform law.
Sebelius announced the new enrollment number during her remarks in Jacksonville, Fla., and they were reported by Bloomberg’s Alex Wayne on Twitter. An administration official confirmed the figure to TPM.
The enrollment total as of Dec. 28 was 2.2 million, according to a report released earlier this month by HHS. That would indicate that at least 800,000 people have enrolled in the following weeks.
UPDATE: The Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff reports that the new enrollment number is through Jan. 15.
It presages a slight expected drop in January enrollments from the 1.8 million who signed up during December, a spike likely spurred by the Dec. 23 deadline to sign up for coverage that started in January, but the January pace is well ahead of enrollment in October (106,000) and November (250,000), when HealthCare.gov was still considered broken.
Before Obamacare launched, the administration had projected seven million enrollees by March 31, when open enrollment closes. Administration officials have said they expect another surge in sign-ups as that deadline approaches.
