Open enrollment for Obamacare is officially over, and the final tally shows signups across the country were lower than last year.
In South Carolina, the numbers were also down slightly. More than 10,000 people signed up for coverage in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 31 deadline, with enrollment jumping from 217,000 in mid-January to more than 230,000 by the end of the month.
Last year, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Insurance said 231,000 South Carolinians enrolled but only 217,000 paid their first month's premium. This year's numbers also could change based on how many pay their first premium.
Across the country, 9.2 million Americans signed up for coverage through the HealthCare.gov platform, about 400,000 fewer than last year. The total does not include customers in 11 states that run their own health insurance markets — including California and New York — so the final national number will be higher. The Trump administration plans to release more detailed enrollment data in March.
"Obamacare has failed the American people, with one broken promise after another," Trump administration spokesman Matt Lloyd said in a statement Friday.
Lloyd went on to say the new president looks forward to providing relief through "patient-centered solutions that will work for the American people."
Others disagreed with him.
"While enrollment is down, this does not exactly paint a picture of a program collapsing," said Larry Levitt of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
Shelli Quenga, director of programs for the Palmetto Project, said in a prepared statement that the group's enrollment outreach ramped up when the Trump administration cancelled ads promoting the Affordable Care Act.
"Given the environment, I'm very pleased with South Carolina's enrollment down only 0.7%," Quenga said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report