WASHINGTON (AP) – Some 9.5 million people have already signed up for 2015 coverage under President Barack Obama’s health care law, and the administration is on track to surpass its nationwide enrollment target set last year.
The Health and Human Services Department said Tuesday that, through the middle of January, more than 7.1 million people had signed up in 37 states where the federal government is running the insurance markets. At least another 2.4 million signed up in states running their own exchanges.
The health insurance exchanges offer subsidized private coverage to people who don’t have access on the job. The deadline for 2015 enrollment is Feb. 15, and officials are expecting the numbers to surge at the very end.
HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell said it’s still too early to take a bow, but she’s “encouraged by the strong interest we’ve seen so far.”
The top five states were Florida, with nearly 1.3 million signed up; California, with 1.2 million; Texas, with nearly 920,000; North Carolina, with nearly 460,000; and Georgia, with more than 425,000.