WASHINGTON — On the last day to sign up for health care, the federal government’s site HealthCare.gov is down.
At 5 a.m., the site said, “The system isn’t available at the moment. We are currently performing maintenance. Please try again later.”
“HealthCare.gov regularly nightly maintenance window has been extended. Consumers are able to leave their email and will be invited back when the system is available. Consumers may also complete their application by calling the call center at 1-800-318-2596. The federal data services hub is working normally,” said Aaron Albright, spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
At 7:50 a.m., the site said, “HealthCare.gov has a lot of visitors right now! We need you wait here, so we can make sure there’s room for you to have a good experience on our site.”
According to Albright, the “HealthCare.gov marketplace application and enrollment system is coming online now. The tech team extended regular maintenance window this morning and is bringing the system online gradually to best meet consumer demand.”
NBC Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd says it’s been “two steps forward, one step back” for the website.
He says with next hurdle will be setting the cost of premiums.
In addition to the federal site, the Maryland Health Connection website also says it will be down from noon to 12:15 p.m. Monday for site maintenance.
There’s been a recent surge in people trying to sign up for health care.
It’s not clear why the site administrators have chosen Monday as a maintenance day.
Six million people have already signed up for health insurance under “Obamacare.”
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