Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced during a Senate Finance Hearing Thursday morning that the sign ups for the Affordable Care Act had risen to 7.5 million.
That’s a 400,000 sign up increase from the 7.1 million figure announced at the close of the original deadline last week. The Obama administration extended the deadline two weeks to allow people who had started their applications before March 31 but not had time to complete it (or been unable to complete it due to Healthcare.gov’s last minute technical woes) a window to finish up.
RELATED: Study: Obamacare Added Almost 10 Million to Insurance Rolls
The 7 million mark was a projection by the Congressional Budget Office of initial enrollments, and seemed so out of reach after the website’s awful rollout that the CBO later revised its estimate down to 6 million. The marketplace’s last minute enrollment surge vaulted the program over the initial number, to the surprise of just about everybody and the relief of nervous Democrats.
Caveat: the number reflects the total number of those who have signed up, not necessarily those who have paid their premiums. For more info, click you here.
[h/t Associated Press]
[Image via Jim Bourg / Reuters]