Just over 100,000 signed up for Obamacare so far



WASHINGTON -- Just 106,000 Americans successfully signed up in October for health coverage through President Obama’s healthcare law, the administration announced Wednesday in a report that underscored damage from the botched rollout of the law.


The tally falls well short of administration hopes that as many as 500,000 people would select a health plan in the first month of enrollment.

Enrollment has been particularly weak in the 36 states whose new insurance marketplaces are being run by the federal government.

Fewer than 27,000 consumers signed up for coverage on a federally run marketplace. These federal marketplaces rely on the malfunctioning healthcare.gov website, which Obama administration officials are scrambling to repair.

Enrollment was stronger in several states that are running their own marketplaces, including California, which had more than 35,000 enrollees in October, more than double any other state.

Despite the relatively low enrollment numbers, administration officials stressed Wednesday that consumer interest in health insurance appears strong.

Nationwide, nearly 1.1 million people have been deemed eligible to get insurance through one of the new marketplaces, according to applications that have been submitted by consumers, the Department of Health and Human Services reported. An additional 396,000 people have been eligible for the government’s Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program, officials reported.

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