According to the White House 106,185 people have signed up for health insurance plans through the Obamacare exchanges across the country as of Nov. 2, administration officials said in the first official update of enrollment since the law’s troubled Oct. 1 launch. One quarter of those people came in through the flawed HealthCare.gov site, which is operating in 36 states. The rest came through the state-run exchanges, most of which are generally operating much more efficiently than the federal site.
The figures, which fall well short of the administration’s early goals, include people who have selected a health plan, whether or not they have actually paid for it. The White House has been tamping down expectations for weeks, warning that they have always expected the first month of enrollment to be low, even before the problems with the website became clear.
An additional 392,261 people were deemed eligible for coverage under Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program under the law. The Medicaid interest far outweighs interest in the private insurance plans so far. More…
