Idaho (yes, Idaho) Update: "Instantly" hits 50% of goal & pushes ACA total over 2.2M!

Who would have thought that it would be Idaho, of all states, that would mark the first significant milestone since hitting the 2.1 million mark a around Christmas? In any event, the spokeswoman for Your Health Idaho announced that ID has shot up from just 1,730 private enrollments at the end of November to a whopping 20,000 people "in time for January 1st". Since the final January deadline for Federal exchange states was Christmas Eve, I assume this means that an additional 18,270 people enrolled from 12/01 - 12/24, increasing Idaho's total 11-fold.

Of course, most of those 18K new people will probably have to be taken out of the HHS's non-specific "1 million" enrollments which haven't been officially broken out by state, but even after doing so, the total number of private enrollments now still sits at just over the 2.2 million mark.

At the same time, since Idaho's CBO projection for 3/31/14 was only 40,000 people to begin with, this means that just like that, they've jumped up to 50% of their target.

Enrollment in Idaho's insurance exchange has blossomed after the federal government in December fixed the website that residents use to sign up for health insurance coverage, with roughly 20,000 people buying individual and family coverage in time for it to begin Jan. 1.

That's up from 1,730 people who purchased coverage available via Your Health Idaho through Nov. 30.

The new total was announced Friday by Your Health Idaho spokeswoman Jody Olson. Insurance exchanges were envisioned by President Barack Obama's 2010 health care overhaul as online marketplaces for individuals and small businesses to compare and shop for coverage — and receive subsidies based on their income.