Obamacare enrollment up in Pennsylvania
The government said 422,284 people in
Over last year's six-month open enrollment, 318,077 people in the state signed up. Nearly 90 percent of those have renewed for 2015, according to information released by the
Of the total sign-ups so far this year, 278,707 were renewals, and 143,577 were uninsured people who were enrolling for the first time.
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An average of 71,000 Pennsylvanians a month have selected plans for the first time this year on Healthcare.gov, the online exchange set up under the Affordable Care Act. During last year's six-month open enrollment period, the average was about 53,000 people.
"The thing to watch is the next few months is just because you renewed doesn't mean that you're going to keep paying," Sloan said. "The numbers are a little inflated right now."
Last year, about 16 percent of the 8 million people who signed up for coverage by the end of open enrollment were dropped because they didn't pay premiums, the final step in securing health insurance.
Thirty-one percent of sign-ups in
Nationwide, 9.5 million people signed up for the first time or renewed their coverage through Healthcare.gov, the website for
The total surpasses the administration's estimate that at least 9.1 million would have coverage by the end of open enrollment on
Health and Human Services Secretary
The nonpartisan
Based on the rate of renewals and sign-ups this year, Sloan said he expects the final number of Americans with coverage through the federal and state exchanges to be closer to the CBO's estimate.
"It's becoming clear that the way this growth is going, and if we see a bump up at the end, it's going to beat that estimate," he said.
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