In the first month after the Affordable Care Act went into effect, Californians accounted for about a third of those who signed up nationwide, according to numbers released Wednesday. The rate of enrollment in the state-run health exchange also increased in November, with more than 24,000 additional signups in the past two weeks.
Covered California, the state's exchange, released figures Wednesday covering the period of Oct. 1 through Tuesday. They showed more than 35,000 Californians had signed up as of Nov. 2, accounting for nearly a third of the nation's total enrollees during that period.
California is one of 14 states running its own health care marketplace. Those 14 exchanges largely have avoided the technical problems that have plagued the federal government's website, HealthCare.gov.
"We're very pleased with the numbers, but mostly we're very pleased what this means for the lives of millions of Californians," said Covered California's executive director, Peter Lee, at a news conference.
But the state has a long way to go if it expects to make a dent in the number of residents - nearly 7 million - who do not have health insurance.
'More work to do'
"We are pleased that California is leading the nation in enrolling consumers in the Affordable Care Act's coverage options, but there's a lot more work to do," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a consumer advocacy group that supports the health law.
The Obama administration reported that just more than 106,000 people were able to enroll in the state and federal marketplaces during the first month, a paltry but not surprising figure given the glitches with the federal website and the growing furor over people losing coverage that does not meet the requirements of the act.
The state and federal enrollment figures came out amid a federal House committee hearing on Wednesday over the rollout of the federal site, which serves 36 states.
Fewer than 27,000 people were able to sign up for health insurance via the federal website through Nov. 2, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The other signups came from states that are running their own marketplaces.
Covered California's Lee tried to distance the state from the federal woes.
"The discussions in Washington are 3,000 miles away, and what we're doing in California is helping people get covered under the current rules," he said.
While millions of Californians are uninsured, Covered California officials have set a goal of signing up 500,000 to 700,000 people by the end of the enrollment period March 31.
Key date: Dec. 15
Consumers have to sign up for a plan by Dec. 15 if they want their coverage to start on the first day possible, Jan. 1.
In addition to the enrollees in Covered California, which sells policies offered by private insurers, the agency reported 72,000 people were deemed eligible for Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California, the state-federal program for the poor. As part of the federal health law, states can expand their Medicaid programs to cover more people with the help of federal dollars.
The state did not, however, release figures showing the ages of the people who signed up for coverage, where they are from and which plans they picked. Lee said many of those details will be released next week. He did say the early enrollees are expected to be older than average.
People who are eligible for federal assistance to buy coverage can get that help onlywhen they purchase their policies through the exchange. But Lee said only about 5,000 people who enrolled in Covered California during October were eligible for the subsidies.
That figure supports concerns that the first people to sign up are likely to be sicker and more expensive to cover.
"Those are individuals waiting for a lifetime to get coverage," Lee said. "They're not waiting for a subsidy."
Enrollments jump
Health advocates were encouraged by what appears to be a recent jump in enrollment. The 31,000 who signed up by Oct. 31 jumped to more than 59,000 by Nov. 12. Enrollment figures include those who have selected a health plan, but they have until late December to start paying for it.
"That's a trend line that's going in the right direction," said Wright of Health Access. "We expect a big spike to come as we come closer to Dec. 15."
Marian Mulkey, director of health reform and public program initiatives at the California HealthCare Foundation in Oakland, described the first wave of enrollment figures as "respectable," but said the momentum must continue.
"The next month and a half will be telling," she said, "and the next (few) months will be even more telling in terms of the impact this will make."
Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @vcolliver
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