 WASHINGTON — Nearly 3.3 million people have signed up for health insurance through the marketplaces established by President Obama’s health care law, and about one-fourth of them are young adults, the administration said Wednesday. The Obama administration has beaten a monthly health insurance enrollment target for the first time, according to data released Wednesday showing that more than 1.14 million people signed up for health plans in January in the new insurance marketplace. The latest enrollment data from the Obama administration show that 3.3 million people have signed up for private health insurance through federal and state insurance exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act. “These encouraging trends show that more Americans are enrolling every day, and finding quality, affordable coverage in the marketplace,” said Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services. Of those who signed up in the last four months, administration officials said, 53 percent are age 45 to 64 -- down slightly from 55 percent in the first three months. This is still below the 40 percent target that the Obama administration had previously set for overall exchange enrollment, although the hope, on their part, is that the 25 percent number continues to inch up in February and March. People 55 to 64 -- the range just below the age at which people qualify for Medicare -- represented the largest group, at 31 percent, down from 33 percent in the months from October through December. One thing officials insist on — at least for now — is that they have no plans to extend the current closing date of the open enrollment period from March 31. That supports my hypothesis that the older, sicker enrollees will sign up first, and the younger, healthier people will enroll later.” 
 
 The administration and its allies are planning a big push to sign up more people, in the hope that total enrollment through the exchanges could reach the administration’s original goal of seven million by the end of March.
– New enrollment data shows that the total number of people who have signed up for ObamaCare remains below target, but the numbers also provide some rare good news for the White House. Some of the odds and ends: January goal met: Last month, 1.1 million people signed up on either a federal or state exchange, beating the target of 1 million. That's a first, reports the Washington Post. Overall figure shy: The new numbers mean that 3.3 million people have signed up since Oct. 1, shy of the goal of 4.4 million for this point, reports the New York Times. (That goal was set before the disastrous website rollout.) More young people: People ages 18 to 34 accounted for 27% of enrollees in January, up from 24% in December, reports NPR. Overall, that means 25% of enrollees are in this crucial age group, well below the administration's goal of 40%. But health chief Kathleen Sebelius sees hope in the uptick: "The covered population is getting younger." More women: They account for 55% of total enrollees at this point. Big picture? "The biggest takeaway here, probably, is that Obamacare is starting to look more and more like the law that the White House had hoped to launch—not the one where technical glitches made it nearly impossible for shoppers to get in the door," writes Sarah Kliff at the Post.