The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released numbers for the first five months of enrollment under the federal Affordable Care Act. According to a news release, 113,733 people enrolled in the Illinois Health Insurance Marketplace.
The report found more than 246,000 people have started the enrollment process on the federal website and been found eligible to purchase a plan. Of the 113,733 who have purchased a plan, 77 percent have been eligible for a subsidy. The report shows that in Illinois, about 54 percent of those enrolling are women, and that the percentage of young people aged 18 to 34 signing up is at 25 percent, the same as the national average.
March 31 is the deadline to sign up for coverage that starts on May 1.
Those who miss that deadline could face financial penalties when they submit their tax returns for the 2014 year.
Traffic on the GetCoveredIllinois.gov website has increased steadily, with nearly 1.3 million website visits since October 1.