More than 184,000 Louisiana residents enrolled for health insurance through the federal marketplace, before the sign-up period ended Sunday. The Associated Press reports that’s a growth of 82,000 people from last year.
Of the Louisianans enrolled this year, about 20% lived in the Baton Rouge area, or 37,154 total. About one-third of them—about 63,000—are in the metropolitan New Orleans area.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the latest enrollment data Wednesday. About 11.4 million people nationwide will get health insurance through marketplaces created under President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.
Louisiana’s numbers have spiked from last year, the first year of the marketplace—and the requirement that people get insurance or face a federal penalty. In the 2014 enrollment period, about 102,000 Louisianans signed up for health care coverage.
