HONOLULU A December surge propelled health care sign-ups through the governments rehabilitated website past the 1 million mark, the Obama administration said Sunday, reflecting new vigor for the problem-plagued federal insuranceexchange.

Of the more than 1.1 million people now enrolled, nearly 1 million signed up in December, with the majority coming days before a pre-Christmas deadline for coverage to start in January. Compare that with a paltry 27,000 in October, the federal websites first, error-prone month or 137,000 inNovember.

We experienced a welcome surge in enrollment as millions of Americans seek access to

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HONOLULU A December surge propelled health care sign-ups through the governments rehabilitated website past the 1 million mark, the Obama administration said Sunday, reflecting new vigor for the problem-plagued federal insuranceexchange.

Of the more than 1.1 million people now enrolled, nearly 1 million signed up in December, with the majority coming days before a pre-Christmas deadline for coverage to start in January. Compare that with a paltry 27,000 in October, the federal websites first, error-prone month or 137,000 inNovember.

We experienced a welcome surge in enrollment as millions of Americans seek access to affordable health care coverage, Marilyn Tavenner, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said in a blogpost.

The figures dont represent a full accounting for the country. They dont include December results from the 14 states running their own websites. Overall, states have been signing up more people than the federal government has. But most of that has come from high performers such as California, New York, Washington, Kentucky and Connecticut. Some states continue tostruggle.

Still, the end-of-year spike suggests that the federal exchange serving 36 states is starting to pull its weight. The windfall comes at a critical moment for President Barack Obamas sweeping health care law, which becomes real for many Americans on Jan. 1 as coverage through the exchanges and key patient protections kickin.

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Health care sign-ups soaring - Mon, 30 Dec 2013 PST