HealthCare.gov signs up 6 million for Jan. 1 insurance

NEW YORK (Reuters) - About 6 million people have signed up for health insurance on the website HealthCare.gov, including 2.4 million new customers, for coverage effective Jan. 1, 2016, the U.S. government said on Friday. HealthCare.gov sells subsidized insurance plans created as part of President Barack Obama's national healthcare reform, often called Obamacare. Last year at this time, about 3.4 million people had signed up for these plans, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The government expects about 10 million people to sign up for 2016 insurance plans, which are sold by private health insurers such as Anthem Inc and Aetna Inc. Americans can continue to sign up for 2016 insurance plans through the end of January. (Reporting by Caroline Humer; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)