The US Department of Health and Human Services recently released its figures for enrollment in the Health Insurance Marketplace through Feb. 1, 2014. With 160,161 North Carolinians getting health coverage through the Marketplace, the state ranks fifth for total enrollment behind California, Florida, New York and Texas. Of the states that opted not to have a state-run exchange, North Carolina ranks third nationally behind Florida and Texas.

“With the March 31^st enrollment deadline fast approaching, many North Carolinians continue to check out their options and enroll in health insurance through the Health Insurance Marketplace,” said Sorien Schmidt, the North Carolina Director of Get Covered America, a national campaign to educate consumers on the new health insurance options available under the Affordable Care Act. “North Carolinians who are enrolling on the marketplace are benefitting from the available financial help. Ninety percent who have purchased insurance at healthcare.gov are getting financial help to pay their monthly insurance premium.

More than 326,000 people in North Carolina are eligible to select health-insurance coverage because of the Affordable Care Act, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Nationwide, nearly 3.3 million people have selected coverage through the health-insurance marketplace, according to the DHHS. That includes 1.1 million who enrolled in January alone.

“These encouraging trends show that more Americans are enrolling every day, and finding quality, affordable coverage in the Marketplace,” Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, said in a news release.

Females have purchased 58 percent of the plans sold. About 30 percent of the plans sold in North Carolina were purchased by people between the ages of 55 and 64, according to DHHS figures. Twenty-five percent of the plans were sold to those under the age of 34.

Click here to read the full DHHS report.