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Affordable Care Act enrollment hits 6 million

The White House announced enrollment on the insurance exchanges has reached 6 million people.

By Gabrielle Levy
President Barack Obama. UPI/Kevin Dietsch
President Barack Obama. UPI/Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

WASHINGTON, March 27 (UPI) -- More than 6 million people have signed up for health insurance through federal or state exchanges, the White House said Thursday.

With just days to go before the Affordable Care Act's now-soft deadline for individuals to sign up, President Barack Obama told a call of healthcare volunteers and other people working to help enrollment efforts that the new numbers had surpassed the 6 million mark.

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The administration had originally projected 7 million people would sign up for private plans by the March 31 deadline, then revised those numbers down significantly after the October 1 rollout of the exchanges was plagued by website glitches and other problems.

But numbers rebounded in the new year, with enrollment reaching 5 million earlier this month, with an average of 100,000 people enrolling each day since mid-March. Those numbers do not include those who signed up for Medicaid through the law's expansion, which admitted to the program people in participating states who earn up to 133 percent of the poverty level.

The enrollees are now allowed to continue the sign-up process through mid-April if they check a box saying they began by March 31.

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Federal officials have declined to say how many of the enrollees were previously uninsured, but surveys have suggested that many were previously covered on individual plans and now have access through exchanges.

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