Obamacare supporters make frenzied last-minute push for registrants

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

After a computer glitch got patched up, supporters of President Barack Obama’s health care law were out in force Sunday trying to get uninsured people signed up by the official deadline for 2015 coverage.

The effort had the trappings of a get-out-the-vote drive, with email reminders, telephone calls and squads of community-level volunteers.

“You can’t avoid it: TV, radio, church, wife, kids, co-workers,” said Ramiro Hernandez, a previously uninsured truck repair shop owner who enrolled himself and his family in Joliet, Illinois, on Saturday.

Technicians anxiously monitored the federal HealthCare.gov website for any new bugs. The administration provided no statistics on weekend sign-ups, instead releasing numbers that showed tens of thousands of consumers were trying to connect, online and by phone.

Winter weather interfered in parts of the country. Rhode Island’s state-run insurance marketplace extended its deadline until Feb. 23. Blowing snow and bitter cold affected not only walk-in enrollment sites, but the state’s call center as well. Online enrollment was still available.

New York, which is also running its own insurance market, announced a two-week extension for anyone who has already started an application.

Federal officials have said they, too, would allow extra time for people to finish in the 37 states served by HealthCare.gov. But officials have not said how long that grace period will be.