More than 9.2 million sign for Obamacare during open enrollment

(Reuters) – More than 9.2 million consumers signed up for health insurance using the Healthcare.gov website during the open enrollment period between November and Jan. 31, the U.S. government said on Friday.

That represented a decrease from 9.7 million during the same period a year ago.

President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have pledged to overturn former President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reform under which the plans are sold.HealthCare.gov sells health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare reform law known as Obamacare, for 39 states. The remaining states run their own exchanges. The total number of plan selections across all states for the entire open enrollment period will be released in March.

Average premiums for the second-lowest cost silver plan rose 25 percent compared with the previous year. At the same time the number of insurance providers choosing to participate in the exchanges fell by 28 percent.

Of the 9.2 million, about 3 million were new consumers while 6.2 million were returning consumers. The figures include any cancellations that occurred during the period.

(Reporting by Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Tom Brown and Lisa Shumaker)