The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently released its latest numbers for how many people have selected qualified health plans from October through February. At approximately 4.2 million, a substantial number of people have signed up using either their own state exchanges or the federally facilitated one. However, this figure is nearly 3 million people short of how many HHS hoped to enroll by the end of March.
That goal may still be reachable, but it will take an awful lot in order for it to be realized.
In the remaining days of March, more than 40 people per minute will have to sign up for a plan if they don't already have employee benefits, according to estimates made by The Associated Press. That's a rate only slightly slower than how many times a long-distance runner's heart beats in 60 seconds.
Broken down, further, someone has to enroll every 1.4 seconds, the AP reported.
The original goal that the Obama administration announced was made during an interview with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. When asked how many people she foresaw signing up by the end of March, the former governor of Kansas said that "success looked like at least 7 million people" enrolling by the end of March 2014.
Members of the Obama administration have been asked since then why more people haven't signed up. Sebelius and others said that much of it had to do with the flawed rollout period, where people were unable to log on to HealthCare.gov in order to start the application process. Vice President Joe Biden recently hinted that the goal wouldn't be reached during a campaign stop in Minneapolis, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
