500,000 newly-insured under Obamacare, but program falling short of expectations

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The Obama administration released long-awaited data from the first month of the launch of the Affordable Care Act showing that an estimated 502,000 Americans signed up for new health insurance under the law in the month of October, a huge swath of Americans but also well below what the administration estimated.

According to data from the administration, the vast majority of the newly-insured, more than 396,00, are people who are now newly-eligible for Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Another 106,185 signed for new health insurance either through state or federal marketplaces created under the law.

Just 26,794 acquired insurance from the troubled HealthCare.gov website, even though people from 34 states are using it. Another 79,391 acquired health insurance in the states that have their health care websites.

The number of people enrolled in health insurance plans in which they would face a premium is 106,185, far below the 500,000 premium-paying customers in the first month that the administration had initially estimated.