Final Healthcare.gov enrollment numbers show drop due to cancellations

More than 8.4 million people enrolled for plans on Healthcare.gov this year, down about 4% from last year, according to final numbers released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

The enrollment number also shows a drop from preliminary figures of 8.5 million enrollments reported last month, something attributed to cancellations once all new plan selections, renewals, and automatic enrollments were taken into account. There were about 8.7 million signups last year.

CMS will release additional data in March that includes plan selection data from state-based exchanges that don't use Healthcare.gov.

CMS officials called the enrollments "remarkably steady" saying a stronger economy and job market make be reducing demand for coverage on the exchanges.

RELATED: Trump administration cuts funding for ACA enrollment efforts again

But the enrollment figure are also notable since Trump administration officials cut the budget for advertising, as well as community outreach grants that help individuals sign up for coverage to a fraction of what they were under its earlier years under the Obama administration. Officials said they put resources to "cost-effective, high-impact outreach" such as sending over 700 million reminder emails and text messages to consumers, as well as 3.2 million outreach emails to help Navigators, agents and brokers assist consumers.

According to the new figures, the enrollments include just more than 2.1 million new customers and about 6.3 million customers renewing their coverage between Nov. 1 and Dec. 22.