President Obama said Tuesday more than 7.1 million Americans had signed up for health insurance over the past six months.
The White House’s announcement Tuesday marks a sharp turnaround for a federal campaign to sell the nation on new health insurance from disastrous beginnings six months ago.
The 7.1 million tally is based on the number of people who enrolled for coverage through the new federal insurance marketplace operating in three dozen states by the deadline of midnight on Monday, plus the enrollments from 14 state-run marketplaces as of March 30.
Taken together, the enrollment reflects a late rush of consumers seeking coverage as the March 31 deadline approached. They lifted the enrollment beyond the level that federal officials have believed likely in recent months.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that high enrollment was due, in part, to the intensive public campaign by the Obama administration and its allies to persuade the public to sign up.
Congressional budget analysts had long forecast that 7 million people would get coverage this year through new federal and state insurance marketplaces created by the 2010 health-care law during a sign-up period from Oct. 1 to March 31. And the Obama administration embraced that estimate.
But the budget analysts’ forecast was downgraded to 6 million in February, taking into account massive computer problems during much of the fall with HealthCare.gov, the online federal marketplace, that frustrated many consumers who tried to shop for and buy health plans.
Information from The Washington Post and The Associated Press contributed to this report.