White House: More than 7 million health insurance sign ups

The official enrollment cut-off has come and gone, and the Obama administration is claiming a big win based on the last-minute surge of interest in online insurance marketplaces. President Barack Obama viewed the number as a rebuttal of the months-long criticism over the health law.  

The New York Times: Obama Claims Victory In Push For Insurance
President Obama declared victory Tuesday in the government's aggressive push to enroll seven million people in private health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, even as his senior aides braced for an escalated political battle over the law ahead of the fall's crucial midterm elections (Shear and Pear, 4/1).

The Washington Post: More Than 7 Million Have Enrolled Under Affordable Care Act, White House Says
Even after the official cutoff, more than 100,000 people at a time were on HealthCare.gov, the online federal insurance marketplace, into the early morning hours, according to a person familiar with the details of the last-minute surge. People who have started to enroll on the federal exchange, as well as on some state exchanges, have a grace period to finish their applications (Goldstein and Eilperin, 4/1).

The Wall Street Journal: More Than Seven Million Sign Up For Health Coverage, Obama Says
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, the president offered one of his most forceful defenses of the law in months after a surge in sign-ups Monday pushed enrollment past the seven million mark. That figure generally was viewed as unattainable after technical problems with HealthCare.gov impeded sign-ups for weeks after the Oct. 1 launch (McCain Nelson and Radnofsky, 4/1).

Reuters: Obamacare Enrollment Exceeds Seven Million Target Despite Setback 
President Barack Obama's national healthcare program signed up more than 7 million people by the end of March, the president said on Tuesday, notching a rare victory after a months-long, glitch-filled rollout of the law. Appearing in the White House Rose Garden, the president said 7.1 million people had signed up for coverage under the law, known as Obamacare, and called for Republicans to end their bid to repeal it (Mason and Felsenthal, 4/1).

NPR: Debate Over Repealing Health Care Law Is Over, Obama Says
Six months after a disastrous rollout, more than 7 million people had signed up for health insurance on the federal and state exchanges when the deadline passed on Monday (Keith, 4/2).

Los Angeles Times: Obamacare Passes First Big Test
The Affordable Care Act has passed its first big test, but the law's distribution of winners and losers all but guarantees the achievement will not quiet its political opposition. White House officials, who had a near-death experience with the law's rollout six months ago, were nearly giddy Tuesday as they celebrated an open-enrollment season that ended on a high note (Lauter and Parsons, 4/1).

Bloomberg: Obama Says 7.1 Million Health Sign-Ups Rebut Criticism
President Barack Obama's declaration that 7.1 million health-plan enrollments serve as a rebuke to critics of his signature law won't diminish the opposition nor stop the scrutiny of the overhaul's effect. "The Affordable Care Act hasn't completely fixed our long-broken health-care system, but this law has made our health-care system a lot better," Obama told administration officials, lawmakers and other supporters in the White House Rose Garden. "The debate over repealing this law is over" (Talev, Keane and Wayne, 4/2)

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: As Insurance Enrollment Exceeds 7M, Obama Says Health Law 'Here To Stay'
The Obama administration took a victory lap Tuesday as enrollment through the health law's exchanges topped 7 million, a goal previously thought untouchable when the website healthcare.gov sputtered and crashed as sign-ups began last fall (Carey, 4/1).

Kaiser Health News: Obama: 'The Affordable Care Act Is Here To Stay' (Video)
Kaiser Health News posted excerpts from a Tuesday White House Rose Garden by President Barack Obama in which he touted over 7 million sign-ups for health insurance on the health law's marketplaces (4/1).