It's Obamacare Deadline Day - And The Website Is Down For Maintenance
The site has been unavailable since shortly after 3 a.m. ET. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said the site's tech team found a software bug as part of routine overnight maintenance, but the issues spilled into the early hours of the morning on the East Coast. Around 8:30 a.m. ET, the spokesperson said the site was "coming back up."
"HealthCare.gov marketplace application and enrollment system is coming online now," the spokesperson said in an email. The tech team extended regular maintenance window this morning and is bringing the system online gradually to best meet consumer demand.
Visitors who experienced problems were asked to leave their email to be notified when the site is back up.
Officially, Monday is the final day for people to enroll in health-care plans under the law colloquially known as Obamacare. The Obama administration has said, though, that certain people who began signing up by the deadline and had problems preventing them from completing the process will have extra time to do so.
Last week, President Barack Obama announced that enrollment in the federal and state exchanges had passed 6 million, which was the revised target number for the administration after a disastrous rollout in October. According to the Los Angeles Times, at least 9.5 million previously uninsured people have obtained insurance under the Affordable Care Act.