The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that: “As of Monday, however, only about half of enrollees billed for plans offered by more than 100 insurers in 17 states had paid their first month’s premium, said Mark Waterstraat, chief strategy officer at Benaissance, a third-party billing firm that works for those insurers.”

It isn’t clear whether that figure is indicative of the story nationwide, and it’s true that insurers have opted to give individuals until at least Jan. 10 (in some cases longer) to pay their premiums for coverage beginning on Jan. 1.

But there’s no reason to believe Sebelius’s claims that 2.1 million have enrolled as of Dec. 28, and journalists shouldn’t report that 2.1 million enrolled until HHS releases data showing that 2.1 million paid for their plans.

During the call, Bataille also declined to provide a demographic breakdown of those who have selected a plan so far or say how many of the 2.1 million signing up for insurance were previously uninsured.

Demographic information is important, because it is vital for the exchanges to attract a critical mass of young and healthy enrollees to offset the costs of covering older and sicker participants in the program.