(Didi Beck, Neon Tommy)

The figure, however, doesn't tell the full story. The administration has yet to provide a December update on the 14 states running their own exchanges. 

While California, New York, Washington, Kentucky and Connecticut have performed well, other states are still struggling. 

The coverage through the exchanges and key patient protections begin on January 1. 

The Obamacare website, which underwent major overhaul to address widespread outages and glitches, contributed to December's rising figures. The problems, however, haven't completely disappeared. Thousands of people wound up waiting on hold for telephone help on Christmas Eve for a multitude of reasons, including technical difficulties.

The White House said Obama told his team to focus on minimizing disruptions for those switching insurance plans.

Read more at The New York Times.

Reach Executive Producer Syuzanna Petrosyan here. Follow her on Twitter.