The holidays appear to have put a major dent in Obamacare enrollment as only about 83,000 people chose plans over the past week.
About 8.6 million people have signed up or automatically renewed in Obamacare on healthcare.gov, a platform used by residents of 38 states. Open enrollment ends Jan. 31, and officials have said the deadline won’t be extended.
The 83,000 people who signed up the week of Dec. 27 to Jan. 2 were fewer than the 274,659 who signed up the week before.
However, the totals for both weeks occurred during the runup to Christmas and New Year’s Day.
The administration is hoping another surge in enrollment will happen by Jan. 15, which is the deadline for coverage starting Feb. 1.
A deadline last month to sign up for coverage starting on Jan. 1 had to be extended two days to deal with unprecedented demand, officials said. From Dec. 14 to Dec. 15 more than 1.1 million people enrolled, according to administration figures.
The goal for this year’s open enrollment is to get roughly 10 million people to sign up and pay for healthcare by the end of this year.
