MD online healthcare exchange still affected by problems

Despite many states seeing improvements in enrollment numbers as technical glitches begin to fade away, Maryland's marketplace site continues to be plagued by bugs, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Two days before issues began to reappear, Gov. Martin O'Malley publicly announced that the site was fully functional and no longer subject to back-end issues after IT professionals worked to remedy the system of errors. However, O'Malley's statement sent thousands of residents online to purchase plans, that ultimately caused the server to crash.

"It's crashing all over the place," said resident Peter Beilenson to the Sun. "It's stopping at various parts. Bottom line, no, not functional."

In an effort to curb the enrollment traffic jam, The Associated Press reported O'Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown announced the deadline to enroll for Jan. 1 coverage would be extended four days, to Dec. 27 for Maryland residents. Subsequently, the Dec. 31 deadline to pay for initial premiums would also be pushed back to Jan. 15.

State officials asked for a change in leadership overseeing the exchange marketplace, requesting Isabel FitzGerald, secretary of the Maryland Department of Information Technology, offer her services to the website's management, the Sun reported.