Obama Claims Victory in Push for Insurance

WASHINGTON - President Obama declared victory Tuesday in the government's aggressive push to enroll seven million people in private health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act, even as his senior aides braced for an escalated political battle over the law ahead of the fall's crucial midterm elections.

The milestone may be more significant politically than for what it says about the law's potential impact on the American health system, which remains unclear. But officials said it was unlikely to have much of an impact on public perception of the law, and the announcement did little to deflect immediate criticism from its Republican opponents.

In an afternoon Rose Garden ceremony, Mr. Obama announced that a late surge of customers to HealthCare.gov before Monday's deadline had pushed insurance signups to 7.1 million, slightly more than the administration's original goal. The achievement was somewhat remarkable considering the bureaucratic and technical nightmare that surrounded the website's debut last October.

'Armageddon has not arrived,' the president said to an audience of White House staff members and supporters who greeted the announcement with an extended standing ovation. 'Instead, this law is helping millions of Americans, and in the coming years it will help millions more.'

Having endured months of scathing criticism for the botched rollout of the law, White House officials embraced the news, posting a picture of a grinning Mr. Obama receiving a health care briefing in the Oval Office Tuesday morning and announcing the milestone on Twitter with #7MillionAndCounting. Top White House officials boasted that they had exceeded everyone's expectations.

With the end of open enrollment, the administration must now turn its attention to a handful of practical questions that may have as much impact on the law's success as the number of people who sign up. These include whether consumers continue to pay their share of monthly premiums, whether they have access to the doctors and hospitals they need and whether insurance companies will be required to raise premiums.

The administration must also look ahead to the next open enrollment season. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that enrollment in the exchanges will grow to 13 million in 2015 and 22 million in 2016.

Several of the most ardent critics of the health care law expressed doubt about the official tally of sign-ups, noting that the White House had not released information about how many people who signed up had paid their initial premiums.

The critics also noted that an unknown number of people who signed up at HealthCare.gov had previously been insured under plans that were canceled. White House officials said they did not yet have a tally of that category.

Politically speaking, officials said that they did not expect the hardened opinions about the health care law to change in the near future, and that Democratic candidates around the country must be prepared to wage a fierce battle in the months ahead centered on convincing Americans that Republicans want to take insurance away from millions of people.

'Those who run against it, who run on repeal and offer nothing in return but the old status quo, the status quo ante, you know, are, I think, going to have some explaining to do to those millions of Americans who now have the security of affordable health insurance,' said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary.

Congressional Democrats were heartened by the announcement of the signups for the new law, particularly after being embarrassed and disappointed by the failure of the website last fall. The health care milestone also provided what they saw as a sharp political contrast with the conservative fiscal blueprint issued Tuesday by Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican who leads the House Budget Committee and proposed new cuts in social spending.

But Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader, said she did not think the health care law would be the decisive issue in this year's midterm elections, regardless of the intensity of the attacks leveled by Republicans.

'I never said that we would run on it,' Ms. Pelosi said in an interview. 'That wasn't why we passed it. But we are not running away from it.' In the end, she said, 'elections are always about jobs and the economy.'

In his remarks on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Obama proclaimed himself mystified by the continuing assault on the law, and said the enrollment figures should finally put an end to the repeated attempts by Republicans to repeal it.

'It's helping people from coast to coast, all of which makes the lengths to which critics have gone to scare people or undermine the law or try to repeal the law without offering any plausible alternative so hard to understand,' Mr. Obama said. 'I've got to admit, I don't get it. Why are folks working so hard for people not to have health insurance?'

As if on cue, Mr. Obama's Republican adversaries dismissed the day's news as irrelevant and vowed to continue their campaign against the health law.

Speaker John A. Boehner said in a statement that his members would keep trying to repeal a law that he said was wreaking 'havoc on American families, small businesses and our economy.' Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader, called the health care law 'a catastrophe for the country' and said he doubted the validity of the enrollment numbers.

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, accused Mr. Obama of taking a 'premature victory lap.' Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group, said Tuesday that it was buying $540,000 of television time for an advertisement assailing Senator Mark Pryor, Democrat of Arkansas, for his support of the health care law.

'The American people are tired of this constant angst, this constant crisis,' a truck driver identified as Jerry says in the commercial. Jerry says his insurance policy has been canceled, and he concludes: 'Senator Mark Pryor voted for Obamacare. Tell Senator Pryor Obamacare hurts Arkansas families.'

The 7.1 million people who the president said signed up for health insurance by midnight did not count those people who tried but were unable for technical reasons to complete applications. Those people may be able to receive a limited amount of extra time, officials said last week. People who go without health insurance in coming months may be subject to tax penalties.

The next open enrollment period starts Nov. 15 and is scheduled to end on Feb. 15, 2015. Families USA, a liberal-leaning advocacy group, said the administration should allow two additional months, through April 15, 2015, for people who learn at tax time next year that they must pay penalties for being uninsured in 2014. The penalties are due with income taxes on April 15, 2015.