Obamacare’s website received its highest traffic this year on Monday, the same day that former President Barack Obama put out a video on Twitter urging people to get covered.
“Yesterday we experienced the highest traffic of this open enrollment,” a spokesperson from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement.
The agency did not say what had driven the traffic, but noted that the website, called healthcare.gov, always see spikes as the deadline gets closer. This year the deadline ends Saturday, closing six weeks of open enrollment.
Some users reported Monday that they were placed into a “waiting room,” which holds website users until the site adjusts to traffic. CMS said that some people who call to enroll in coverage will be asked to leave their information so that they can receive a call back. Some will be contacted after the Dec. 15 deadline but will still be enrolled so their coverage can begin Jan. 1. Others will be able to enroll with an agent when they call.
Obama did not call out his successor on Twitter but did urge people to enroll in coverage through the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, which he signed into law.
“No jump shots. No ferns. No memes,” Obama tweeted Monday morning, referring to other appearances he’d made endorsing Obamacare as president. “Not this time. I’m going to give it to you straight: If you need health insurance for 2019, the deadline to get covered is December 15. Go to healthcare.gov today and pass this on — you just might save a life.”
Obama’s message came as enrollment was lagging behind. The Trump administration made several changes to open enrollment this year, including reducing the enrollment period, cutting spending on nonprofit groups that help people enroll, and spending less than the Obama administration did on advertising.
The Trump administration also is allowing people to buy coverage that doesn’t fit Obamacare’s rules for covering medical care for pre-existing conditions, such as cancer or diabetes, and under the Republican tax law people will not be fined next year if they choose to be uninsured.
