Obamacare has enrolled more than 8.2 million people on healthcare.gov, well on its way to meeting the administration’s goal for 2016 open enrollment.
For the first time since open enrollment began last month, the figures the Obama administration released Tuesday include those who automatically re-enrolled in their Obamacare coverage.
The updated numbers come a few days after a massive surge in enrollment as people sought to get healthcare coverage by Jan. 1. The figures are for signups in the federal marketplace exchange, which residents in about 38 states use to get Obamacare coverage.
From Dec. 13 through Dec. 19, more than 4 million signed up for Obamacare plans or had their coverage automatically renew. The administration said it had to push back its deadline by two days for getting Jan. 1 coverage to deal with “unprecedented demand.”
Obamacare is also getting more signups of people under age 35 compared to last year, with about 2.1 million for this open enrollment compared to 1.1 million in last year’s open enrollment.
The administration has been pushing to get younger people to sign up for coverage, as younger and healthier enrollees are needed to keep insurance markets stable.
The 8 million is close to the administration’s goal of getting nearly 10 million people to sign up and pay for their insurance by the end of 2016. However, that estimate is far below the more than 20 million projected by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Open enrollment ends Jan. 31.
