More than 290,000 people have signed up on Covered California, the state's health insurance marketplace, officials announced Wednesday. That number includes both people who qualify for private health insurance on the exchange or Medi-Cal.
Open enrollment started Nov. 15. Of the 130,000 people who have qualified for Covered California, nearly 50,000 of them have both completed the application and selected a plan. That compares to about 30,000 people who selected a plan during the first month of open enrollment last year.
In a press call, Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California, called that pace "very strong." People have until Monday to sign up for coverage that will start Jan. 1. "We expect that the next few days and this weekend, we'll see continued and even growing interest in enrollment," Lee said.
Covered California is running 40 enrollment events across the state between Wednesday and Monday, Lee said. Many of the events are in both English and Spanish.
Lee stressed that the numbers reported Wednesday are new enrollment. Open enrollment runs until Feb. 15.