CMS: 4 million people enrolled on exchanges

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About 4 million people have signed up for a private health plan through federal and state health insurance exchanges, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced.

"As we head into the last five weeks of this historic open enrollment period, millions of Americans are taking advantage of the new choices they now have to access affordable, quality health care thanks to the Affordable Care Act," CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner wrote Tuesday in a blog post.

Tavenner didn't, however, provide any details or demographic breakdown of the total enrollment, including how many young adults have signed up or how many of the consumers have paid premiums, Politico reported.

She noted that HealthCare.gov is working smoothly and has low system error rates and response times under half a second. "Our call center has handled more than 12 million calls so far and is open 24/7 to assist consumers in English, Spanish and more than 150 languages," she wrote.

Some states also have reported enrollment jumps. In California, for example, more than 100,000 consumers signed up for plans on its exchange during the first two weeks of February, bringing the total enrollment to almost 829,000, reported Business Insurance.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration and partner organizations, such as Enroll America, have begun their final push to boost sign-ups in the remaining weeks of open enrollment. Enroll America's "Countdown to Get Covered" features a bus tour through Texas and Ohio, with stops at events like the SXSW music festival in Austin.

"While we aim to reach out to as many consumers as possible, we're especially targeting our efforts to the communities that stand to benefit the most, including young people, women, and communities of color," Enroll America spokesman Justin Nisly told The Hill's Healthwatch.

To learn more:
- read the blog post
- see the Business Insurance article
- check out the Politico article
- read The Hill's Healthwatch article

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