ACA Enrollment Tops 4 Million

WASHINGTON — More than 4.2 million people have enrolled in private health plans sold through the Affordable Care Act’s insurance exchanges as of March 1, the Obama administration reported Tuesday.

However, the administration didn’t say how many of those people have paid their first month’s premiums or how many were previously uninsured.

The 4.2 million mark is well below the goal of 5.6 million that federal health officials had when open enrollment started last October. Open enrollment ends March 31 and the White House had hoped to enroll 7 million by that time.

Enrollment through the exchanges was hampered this fall when websites designed to help enroll people were plagued by glitches and error messages, making it difficult for people to sign up for plans.

Almost a million people (943,000) signed up for private coverage between Feb. 2 and March 1, according to the latest enrollment data released Tuesday. That’s a touch less than the 1.1 million who signed up between Dec. 29 and Feb. 1.

For state-level enrollment information, view more data released Tuesday.

By David Pittman, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today