By Joe Williams, CQ Roll Call
December 16, 2016 -- More than 670,000 people signed up for insurance coverage under President Barack Obama's signature health initiative on Thursday, the biggest enrollment day since the law took effect, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Because of the high demand, the spokesperson said the Obama administration has extended the deadline to sign up for an insurance plan and receive coverage under the Affordable Care Act by Jan. 1, 2017 to Dec. 19. The original deadline was Dec. 15.
This follows an enrollment snapshot released earlier this week from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that said that 1.1 million new customers have signed up for insurance this open enrollment period, according to data from Nov. 1 to Dec. 10. The current enrollment period ends Jan. 30, 2017.