State-specific numbers highlight December enrollment surge

Various news outlets report on the enrollment totals through December -- and some demographic data -- for Alabama, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Georgia, California, Illinois and others.

The Associated Press: More Alabamians Signing Up For Health Insurance
The number of Alabamians signing up for the federally operated health insurance marketplace jumped significantly in the past month, with more than 28,600 signed up through late December. Enrollment under the federal health care law started Oct. 1 (1/13).

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 40,752 State Residents Enrolled In Obamacare Through December
Enrollment in health plans sold on the federal insurance marketplace jumped last month, with a total of 40,752 people in Wisconsin having picked a plan through December, according to figures released Monday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The number of people who have picked a plan in Wisconsin was up from 5,303 at the end of November (Boulton, 1/13). 

The CT Mirror: CT Exchange's Private Insurance Customers Skew Older, Male
Sixty percent of the people who signed up for private health plans through Connecticut's health insurance exchange are 45 and older, according to figures released by the federal government Monday. That's more than twice the share of people in the coveted under-35 age brackets. Twenty-one percent of enrollees are age 18 to 34. The figures also show that Connecticut stands out as one of just two states with more men than women signing up for private plans through the exchanges (Becker, 1/13).

Georgia Health News: Georgia Exchange Enrollment Jumped In December
More than 58,000 Georgians signed up for health coverage in the insurance exchange by Dec. 28, a nearly tenfold jump from the enrollment figure a month before, according to a federal report released Monday. The increase reflected a more functional federal website for people to navigate, and came ahead of the deadline of late December to sign up for insurance to begin Jan. 1. Thirty percent of the Georgia enrollees are under age 35, a key statistic in determining whether the Affordable Care Act's exchange will work. Insurance experts say for the exchange to work and be economically viable for insurers, there must be enough young and healthy enrollees in the exchange to balance the risk from older and sicker enrollees (Miller, 1/13).

The San Jose Mercury News: California Continues To Lead U.S. In Numbers Of Health Insurance Enrollments
The frenzy in December to sign up for insurance under the nation's new healthcare law accounted for a staggering 83 percent of the new policies written before the deadline to start coverage this month, according to numbers released Monday by the federal government. And in California, that brisk pace continues as the next deadline -- for medical insurance coverage starting Feb. 1 -- approaches on Wednesday, said officials with the state's healthcare exchange. Covered California is confident that the momentum highlighted in the latest U.S. Department of Health & Human Services report will continue (Seipel, 1/13).

Chicago Tribune: Health Insurance Enrollment Surges In Illinois
A little more than 61,100 Illinoisans selected new health insurance policies created under President Barack Obama's health care law through Dec. 28, as a last-minute surge in enrollment helped the marketplaces recover from an embarrassing Oct. 1 launch. The Illinois enrollments are up nearly ninefold from November (Frost and Levey, 1/14). 

The Chicago Sun-Times: Big Increase Of Enrollees In Obama's Health Care Plan
In a significant jump, 61,111 Illinois residents had chosen an insurance plan through President Barack Obama's health care law by the end of December, according to the latest enrollment numbers released by the federal government Monday. That marks nearly a ninefold increase in December over the first two months, when 7,043 Illinois residents had selected a new plan created by the Affordable Care Act between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30 (Thomas, 1/13).

The Philadelphia Inquirer: Obamacare Signups Up Fivefold In One Month
The number of Americans who selected plans through the Obamacare exchanges surged nearly five-fold in December, administration officials said Monday ... 81,320 Pennsylvanians selected coverage through the federal exchange through the end of December, a more than sevenfold increase from the month before. In New Jersey, 34,751 selected plans, up more than 10 times (Sapatkin, 1/13).

The Texas Tribune: Enrollments Grow in TX, Where Uninsured Rates Are High
Texas enrollments in the online insurance marketplace created under the Affordable Care Act rose nearly eightfold in December, according to 2013 figures that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released Monday (Walters, 1/13).

The Miami Herald: Women And Older Americans Lead The Way In Obamacare Signups -- In Florida And The Nation
About 36 percent of Floridians who selected a plan, or more than 56,000 people, were between 55 and 64. Florida also saw women participate in greater numbers, making up about 55 percent of enrollees who selected a plan, or 86,000 people (Chang, 1/13).

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: More Than 33K Missourians Now Have Coverage Through HealthCare.gov
More than 33,000 Missourians enrolled in a health insurance plan through the federal HealthCare.gov marketplace as of Dec. 28, according to new data released Monday by the Department of Health and Human Services.