HealthCare.gov to be out of service

HealthCare.gov will be out of service for two and a half days beginning on Feb. 15 — the last day people can sign up to obtain coverage that begins on March 1.

{mosads} The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services announced in a blog post on Monday that the ObamaCare website would be lacking some enrollment functionalities so the Social Security Administration can conduct its annual systems maintenance activities.

The site will be out of order from 3 p.m. on Feb. 15 until 5 a.m. on Tuesday — a period that coincides with the long holiday weekend. 

Those seeking coverage by March 1 must have signed up online by Feb. 15, but with the website maintenance, those registering at the last minute won’t be able to find out what plans or subsidies they qualify for.

The CMS is encouraging these users to call a hotline to complete the process.

In the first two months of ObamaCare, such outages were common-place, and set the administration well behind in its goal of having 7 million consumers signed up under the new healthcare law by March 31.

However, the website has been running smoothly for more than two months now, and there are signs that the final 2014 enrollment numbers may approach that original goal.

Consumers have until March 31 to sign up for a health plan in 2014, or face the penalty associated with the individual mandate.

— This story was updated at 10:05 a.m.