By Rebecca Adams, CQ Roll Call
February 25, 2015 -- More than 8.8 million people signed up for health insurance coverage through the federal marketplace or were re-enrolled by the Obama administration in the sign-up period that ended Feb. 22 under the Affordable Care Act.
Some of those people have not yet paid their first premium, which is necessary for the coverage to begin.
The estimates are for 37 states that relied on healthcare.gov.
Health and Human Services Department officials said that about 90,000 consumers who had insurance last year through marketplace plans were dropped because those people did not provide the documentation of their citizenship or immigration status. The administration had previously projected that 200,000 people would lose coverage.
The administration also released a breakdown of how many people that signed up through healthcare.gov were new customers this year and how many were re-enrolled by the administration. Health and Human Services officials automatically renewed coverage for people who signed up in 2014 but did not return to choose coverage for 2015. About 53 percent of the people covered this year were new while 47 percent, or about 4.17 million enrollments, were renewed.
The next sign-up period is expected to begin on Nov. 1. However, people can enroll before then through a variety of circumstances, including a change in residence, family size, job, or insurance coverage.