Nearly 34K more New Yorkers enroll in O-Care

Nearly 34,000 New Yorkers enrolled in the state’s health insurance exchange in the last week, state officials said, bringing the total number of enrollees to 134,622.

Of that total, 95,196 have enrolled through a qualified health plan, and 39,426 qualified for Medicaid, the New York State of Health announced in an update Monday. 

{mosads}An additional 228,636 New Yorkers completed applications for the exchange and have been deemed eligible for health insurance, the health department said.

New Yorkers have until Dec. 23 — one more week — to sign up and enroll in a health plan in order to begin receiving health coverage Jan. 1. Consumers across the country have the same deadline to sign up and enroll.

Obama administration officials, however, tweaked the deadline last week to apply to premium payments. Insurance companies are now required to accept premium payments through Dec. 31 from people who want coverage by Jan. 1. 

Last week, New York also reached a milestone by enrolling more than 100,000 people in the exchange.

New York is one of 14 states running their own exchange instead of opting into the federal portal, HealthCare.gov.

The Obama administration had been touting states’ enrollment numbers as they revamped the dysfunctional federal portal. Since Dec. 1, Health and Human Services officials have reported increased numbers of visitors to HealthCare.gov.

— This story was updated at 12:02 p.m.