The White House has been tight-lipped about how many uninsured Americans have signed up for health care insurance under the Affordable Care Act, which has led to some concerns about whether enough people are enrolling in private health plans to make the economic model work.
Under the law, insurance companies are required to cover anyone.
But in order to make that economically feasible, everyone has to buy insurance.
The White House has set a goal of enrolling 7 million people in private insurance plans through the new health insurance exchanges by March 31, 2014, the end of the glitch-plagued open enrollment period that started October 1.
But it has been tight-lipped so far about how many people have actually enrolled in private insurance plans -- those who have both applied and paid the premiums in advance.
Officials announced Thursday that 700,000 people have applied for insurance plans in both the 36 states that are using a federally run health care exchange and the 14 states running their own exchanges.
But don't apply that 700,000 application figure to the 7 million enrollment goal.
For starters, there's no guarantee that all 700,000 will ultimately enroll in a health insurance plan.
And those 700,000 applications include Medicaid enrollments.
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http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/26/politics/obamacare-medicaid-enroll/