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The Obama administration on Monday extended the sign-up deadline for healthcare plans under President Barack Obama's signature healthcare overhaul through Tuesday.
Monday was scheduled to be the last day for people to sign up for health care coverage that starts on Jan. 1, 2014. But the administration has extended the deadline one more day in case of last-minute high demand on the once error-ridden federal online marketplace.
"Anticipating high demand and the fact that consumers may be enrolling from multiple time zones, we have taken steps to make sure that those who select a plan through tomorrow will get coverage for Jan 1," said Julie Bataille, spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Service.
It is the second time that the Obama administration pushed back the sign-up deadline for people who seek coverage that starts on Jan. 1. The original deadline was set on Dec. 15, which was pushed back to Dec. 23 after the disastrous launch of the federal website.
The Obama administration is trying to recover from almost three months of negative news about the implementation of the healthcare overhaul, which is believed to have dragged down Obama's approval rating to a record-low of five years in presidency.
The Healthcare.gov, the federal online marketplace serving consumers in 36 states, is key to the healthcare law aiming to get more uninsured Americans coverage. The website has been plagued with technical glitches since its debut on Oct. 1. Many consumers have reported difficulties of signing up.
Speaking at the year-end press conference last Friday, the president also stressed that the enrollment number of the healthcare website has picked up pace in the past month, which brought the total number under Obamacare to more than one million.
