HARRISBURG — More than 100,000 applications for coverage under Pennsylvania’s expanding Medicaid program were received by the state ahead of Thursday’s start of coverage, according to the Department of Human Services.

Household applications passed the 100,000 mark earlier this week, practically ensuring that the state-federal program that already covers more than 2.2 million Pennsylvanians will grow to a record in terms of people covered in 2015.

Enrollment began Dec. 1 in Pennsylvania under the guidelines of the 2010 federal health care law’s Medicaid expansion.

The agency was unable to immediately say how many people were included in those household applications or how many will be deemed to be eligible.

The state says some 600,000 adult Pennsylvanians are newly eligible for the coverage. Under the broadening of Medicaid’s income guidelines, childless adults under 65 and earning up to about $16,000 in 2014 are eligible. More parents under 65 also are eligible, depending on their income and number of children.

Previously, able-bodied adults under 65 were not eligible for Medicaid, unless they had practically no income. For instance, a single parent of two children making $6,500 a year or less is eligible under the current rules; under the expansion, he or she could earn up to about $27,000 a year and be eligible.