Last year’s final enrollment numbers under President Barack Obama’s health care law fell just short of a target the administration had set, the government reported Friday.

The numbers are important because the insurance markets created by the president’s 2010 health care law face challenges building and maintaining enrollment. The marketplaces offer subsidized private insurance to people who don’t have access to job-based coverage.

The report from the Health and Human Services Department said about 8.8 million consumers were still signed up and paying premiums at the end of last year.

HHS Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell had set a goal of having 9.1 million customers by then.