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Major Insurer: More Obamacare Sign-Ups Than We Expected


A major health insurance company reported Wednesday that its Obamacare sign-ups were higher than its projections, some of the first concrete evidence that the health care reform law is working from the industry's perspective.

Joseph Swedish, CEO of WellPoint, told investors that the company had received 500,000 applications through HealthCare.gov and its state-operated counterparts. He said the number was "ahead of our most recent projections." He added that applications had spiked in December and the company expects another surge before the March 31 deadline to enroll in coverage for 2014.

“We do feel good about what we’ve seen thus far on the exchanges,” Swedish said on the call. “While it is early, we are encouraged by the level of applications we’ve received."

The majority of those applicants were not previously enrolled with WellPoint, Swedish said, though it wasn't clear whether they were previously uninsured or insured by another company.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/wellpoint-obamacare-sign-ups