Obamacare just might net its 7 million sign-ups

A lot of news stories mention that the enrollments are still short of the 3 million projection, which did not take into account the fact that October and November were essentially lost, but with 2 million signed as of now, it is pretty amazing the ground that was made up.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/12/30/obamacare-just-might-net-its-7-million-sign-ups/

Health law opponents, too, focused on the CBO projection when they saw terrible sign-up numbers in October and November. How could you get to 7 million sign-ups, after all, when the first day of enrollment had netted a mere six customers?

But what seemed impossible in October suddenly became a lot more plausible in late December. This weekend, new enrollment data showed approximately 2 million Americans signed up for private health insurance plans since the start of open enrollment. Health policy experts now see a space to get to 7 million -- although it's by no means a guarantee.

"October and November were essentially lost months," says Larry Levitt, senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation. "December is the first month where we're getting an indication of how things are working. It's starting to track with what people, particularly the CBO, projected originally."

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"I think January and February will probably slow down, but I would not be surprised at all if March is much bigger than December," Levitt says. "I don't think the outreach campaigns have peaked yet, and March is when you actually have to get coverage. That will be the real story."