Administration officials told The Huffington Post yesterday that another 700,000 individuals have signed up for Obamacare in February, bringing the total up to the 4-million range. The goal, however, is 7 million by the end of March, meaning in one month they'll have to sign up another 3 million.
"With individuals and families enrolling in coverage every day, we continue to see strong demand nationwide from consumers who want access to quality, affordable coverage," reads a statement from the administration quoted in The Huffington Post.
"Consumers are shopping and enrolling in plans on HealthCare.gov every day; system error rates are low and response times are consistently less than half a second. Our call center has handled more than 12 million calls so far and is open 24/7 to assist consumers in English, Spanish and more than 150 languages."
The spin may be a bit optimistic, and the administration still refuses to release (or says it doesn't have access to) demographics (how many young people to offset the older, sicker enrollees?) or the percentage that so far has actually paid a premium out of the 4 million signees reported. As well, Cyber-security experts still consistently warn that personal data on HealthCare.gov is easily penetrable by hackers.
The 4-million enrollment figure does not include people who have enrolled in Medicaid, which is free to those who qualify.