At least 8.8 million people signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's HealthCare.gov federal marketplace, Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Thursday. Photo courtesy HealtCare.gov

Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Nearly 9 million people signed up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act's federal marketplace, a senior health official said Thursday.

Seema Verma, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, announced on Twitter that 8.8 million people enrolled for health coverage through HealthCare.gov, the federal site used by 39 states, as open enrollment for 2018 ended on Dec. 15.


"Great job to the [CMS] team for the work you did to make this the smoothest experience for consumers to date," she wrote. "We take pride in providing great customer service."

A total of 4.1 million people signed up or had their plan automatically renewed through HealthCare.gov in the last week of enrollment from Dec. 10 to Dec. 15, according CMS data.

New customers also accounted for 2.4 million of the total 8.8 million enrollments through HealthCare.gov.

President Donald Trump has claimed the ACA is "dead" and declared the law was "essentially repealed" after passing the Republican tax reform bill Wednesday, which will repeal its penalty for Americans who forgo health coverage effective 2019.

The total number of enrollments dropped slightly from 9.2 million for 2017, despite an enrollment period that was half as long, a 90 percent cut by the Trump administration in advertising for the program, and a 40 percent cut for in-person enrollment aides.

Enrollment numbers may increase, as nine states that run their own marketplaces have extended enrollment and residents of Florida, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama are permitted to sign up trough the end of the year due to fallout from Natural disasters.

Residents of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi are also eligible to enroll through Dec. 31 due to hurricane damage.

An additional 2.5 million people have also enrolled through state-run insurance marketplaces, some of which allow sign-ups through the coming weeks.