Fewer than 27,000 Americans signed up for insurance on the glitch-plagued healthcare.gov website in the month of October, putting the Obama administration far below its own target for the program’s rollout.
An additional 79,391 people enrolled in insurance in the 15 states and District of Columbia that run their own exchanges, which have been plagued by fewer tech problems. Still, the cumulative 106,000 people who signed up for insurance comes in far below the half a million enrollees the Obama administration had projected in the first month, according to internal memos cited on Captiol Hill. And some of the 106,000 people have chosen a plan and put it in their shopping cart but not yet paid the first month's premium.
On a call with reporters, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she is “confident” the numbers will rise soon, noting that an additional 975,000 people have applied for insurance on the site, but have not yet enrolled.
“The marketplace is working, people are enrolling,” Sebelius said.
