ACA sign-ups accelerate as deadline looms

The rate at which individuals are signing up for health insurance is increasing as open enrollment comes to a close this weekend, senior HHS officials said Wednesday while announcing the latest enrollment figures.

Last week, 275,676 signed up for coverage on HealthCare.gov, up from the roughly 100,000 who have been signing up in an average week, they said. In total, 7.7 million people have signed up or re-enrolled in coverage on HealthCare.gov as of Feb. 6, nine days before the Feb. 15 deadline.

HHS did not provide an updated count of how many people had signed up or were automatically re-enrolled through state-based exchanges. Last week officials said that tally exceeded 2.4 million.

HHS' goal for the second open-enrollment period ending Feb. 15 is 9.1 million people who have selected plans and paid premiums. The totals released Wednesday only report the number of people who have selected plans, not the number who have paid their first month's premiums.

Despite local anti-Obamacare sentiment, Southern states are seeing some of the largest gains in enrollment. Florida and Texas are reporting the most sign-ups with 1.3 million and just over 1 million, respectively.

A better-functioning website and word of mouth are prompting the high sign-up rates in those states, said Andrew Slavitt, principal deputy administrator at CMS.

Follow Virgil Dickson on Twitter: @MHvdickson