Jan. 1 (Bloomberg) — About 2.1 million people will have medical coverage today through Obamacare after a late surge in enrollment helped regain ground lost to the botched debut of insurance exchanges created by PPACA.   More than 1.6 million Americans signed up through state and federal exchanges in December alone, according to calculations from data released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The December tally is more than quadruple the first two months of the government's sign-up period.

The December surge provides a boost to President Barack Obama, whose fumbling of the October rollout of the insurance exchanges initially thwarted the high participation needed to spread the costs of his health-care expansion. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is supposed to offer private coverage to as many as 7 million people by the end of March.

"The new law is transformational for our entire health- care system and for millions of Americans who finally have health security," Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. health secretary, told reporters on a conference call.

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