White House Officially Delaying Obamacare Deadline for Six Weeks, AP Reports

The White House is officially granting a six-week extension for Americans to sign up for Obamacare, the Associated Press reports. After fighting delays of the health care law for weeks, culminating in the government shutdown fight, the White House appears to be conceding that there are too many issues with the site that won’t be fixed in time.

The deadline to enroll has been extended to March 31st so people have more time to sign up before being slapped with a penalty.

Some states have been reporting incredibly low enrollment numbers, with Oregon saying exactly zero people have signed up so far. The technical issues with the site have led to a lot of finger-pointing from both sides.

Update: If this story sounds familiar, it’s because this announcement was made last week, reported as a scoop, and explained at length by Jay Carney. Carney confirms, in an email to Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher, that the change the AP is reporting is the same one that was announced last week. The “news” here appears to be that the Department of Health and Human Services has issued guidelines based on last week’s announcement.

[photo via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

Editor’s note: This post has been edited since its original posting – Jon Nicosia, Mgr. Editor

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