Obama lauds health care sign-ups of over 7 million

Obama lauds health care sign-ups of over 7 million

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says 7.1 million Americans enrolled for health care coverage by Monday's midnight deadline. He's praising the achievement of overcoming lost weeks at the start of sign-ups last fall.

Obama says the law has not fixed the health care system but it has made it a lot better. He says there is no reason to go back, in an apparent reference to Republican efforts to repeal the law.

Obama made his remarks in the White House Rose Garden Tuesday after his administration announced the key milestone in the 4-year-old law. The total surpasses a threshold that had once been in doubt because of computer setbacks at the start of sign-ups in the fall.