Health Insurance Sign Up Exceeds Expectations
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Nearly half a million in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, during the six-month enrollment period.
KYW's Pat Loeb reports official figures released, Thursday, showed sign-up was higher than expected.
Federal health officials say more than 8 million Americans got insurance between October first and mid-April, the end of the grace period following the close of open enrollment.
That includes 14,000 people in Delaware, 160,000 in New Jersey and 318,000 in Pennsylvania.
Nearly half enrolled in the last two months of the sign-up, with help from groups such as Enroll America. Its Pennsylvania spokesman Paydon Miller called it historic.
"We are joining the millions of Americans who are celebrating because they can protect their families from the financial ruin that comes from an unexpected accident or illness," Miller said.
Federal officials had originally expected about 200,000 Pennsylvanians to sign-up but, though, the final total was 50 percent higher, that still leaves more than a million Pennsylvanians uninsured.
