WASHINGTON -- The number of people signing up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act in New Jersey and the nation approached 2016 levels despite a year-long campaign by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans against the law.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported that 8.8 million enrolled for coverage during this year's sign-up period, 96 percent of last year's 9.2 million. In New Jersey, 278,881 people signed up, compared with 295,067 in 2016.

"This is a remarkable result given the administration's efforts to sabotage enrollment by gutting outreach, creating chaos and confusion, cutting off subsidies for low-income families and shortening the enrollment period by six weeks," said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6th Dist., the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Since taking office, the Trump administration cut this year's enrollment period in half, reduced efforts to help people sign up for insurance, ended payments to insurance companies to cover deductibles and co-payments for low-income policyholders, and took other steps to weaken the law.

Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled Congress tried to repeal the law in its entirety and leave as many as 32 million additional Americans without health insurance.

The figures "make clear that the American people want access to high quality, affordable health insurance coverage, and they want Congress and the administration to stop playing games with our health care system," Pallone said.

Joined Democratic Committee leaders to raise alarm over reports of junk insurance plans being sold on the individual market that do not meet #ACA requirements. https://t.co/eKHpNi3Vi8 pic.twitter.com/SSGsVhrjwi
-- Rep. Frank Pallone (@FrankPallone) December 20, 2017

Trump falsely claimed that the existing health care act was failing, even though the Congressional Budget Office and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that the marketplace were stable in most places.

And while premiums increased, insurers blamed the higher rates largely on Republican efforts to sabotage the law, not on the law itself. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state's latest insurer, said more than half of its 24 percent premium increase was due to Trump administration actions.

The tax bill signed into law on Friday eliminated the requirement that all Americans carry insurance or pay a penalty.

"I think Obamacare is over because of that, and we're going to come up with something that's really going to be very good," Trump said.

The United States Senate just passed the biggest in history Tax Cut and Reform Bill. Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare)Repealed. Goes to the House tomorrow morning for final vote. If approved, there will be a News Conference at The White House at approximately 1:00 P.M.
-- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2017

The CBO said the provision would lead to 13 million more uninsured Americans by 2027 and raise premiums by 10 percent for others.

New Jersey Policy Perspective, a progressive research group, said 340,000 more Garden State residents would be uninsured by 2027 under the tax law.

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.