Almost 13 million people signed up for or were re-enrolled in health insurance under the Affordable Care Act in the open enrollment period that ended in January.
The 12.7 million enrollees who signed up in the three-month open enrollment period slightly beat the Obama administration’s expectations. In October, officials estimated that between 11 and 14 million people would sign up on the insurance marketplace.
The tally beats last year’s 11.7 million enrollees by 1 million. Four million of this year’s federal HealthCare.gov enrollees were newcomers to the coverage—evidence, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell says, that Obamacare “is a product people want and need.”
“Open Enrollment for 2016 is over and we are happy to report it was a success,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said in a press release. “The Health Insurance Marketplace is changing people’s lives for the better.”
Around 17 million uninsured Americans have received coverage under the Affordable Care Act, according to the New York Times. Part of those gains comes from the expansion of Medicaid and the law allowing adults up to 26 to use their parents’ plans.
