Obamacare enrollment season ends with massive surge

[Playinghardball]

The first open enrollment season of Obamacare ended at midnight Monday, a day that saw millions of Americans click onto Obamacare sign-up portals, dial into call centers and stand in long lines at assistance sites nationwide. The huge surge made it increasingly likely that enrollment would hit 7 million, the finish line that seemed out of reach during much of the often rocky six-month period.

Shortly after 10 p.m., the Associated Press cited two sources that said sign-ups were “on track” to hit 7 million. Administration officials wouldn’t confirm the number but said that signs were pointing in that direction.
The HealthCare.Gov website took down enrollment forms just after midnight and displayed a new message that will transition people into a “special enrollment period.

Don’t worry,” it said. “We’ll still help you get the coverage you need for this year.”

Federal health officials said the site would reappear in a new guise Tuesday morning with instructions for post-March 31 sign-ups. Those will be open to people who self-report that they tried to make the deadline but failed. Depending on how long special enrollment goes on, enrollment numbers could still rise significantly.

The last official day of the Obamacare coverage push was hit by a double whammy of new HealthCare.gov glitches that caused confusion and delay. The federal website was down for six hours early Monday morning. Then it was up. Then it activated its “virtual waiting room.” Then it blocked newcomers from creating accounts accounts.

Then it was working again, with officials reporting more than 1.6 million visitors by 2 p.m. and more than 3 million by 8 pm. State exchanges reported similar surges. The federal site queued visitors when traffic rose, offering them a chance to get an email notification when the site would be less congested. It held through the night, despite the crush of visitors.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/healthcaregov-website-down-obamacare-deadline-105197.html#ixzz2xbfNFqUo

[Cha]

1. Thanks to all the high profile peeps and everyone who has helped out with

this Giant Surge!!