Technical difficulties force Health Plan Finder offline

SEATTLE -- Within just a few minutes of going online, Wahealthplanfinder.org was taken down for maintenance problems.

Richard Onizuka, CEO for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, issued the following statement after the health plan finder site went down on the first day of the Affordable Care Act:

“Washington Healthplanfinder launched this morning at 7:30 a.m., bringing new quality health coverage options to thousands of uninsured individuals, families and small businesses in Washington state.

During the launch, we became aware that some users were experiencing slow loading times or difficulty completing their application. While this is not affecting all users, we want to investigate the root cause for why this is happening and will be placing the site in maintenance mode in order to identify and correct these issues. We expect to have an update at 9:30 a.m.

 The experience of our customers is our top priority and we thank you for your patience as we work to refine the system on day one. We expected to have some of these bumps in the road and look forward to have the system back up and running as soon as possible.”



Shortly before 10 a.m., Onizuka issued this statement:

“This morning, we determined that consumers attempting to enroll in health coverage through Washington Healthplanfinder experienced slow loading times or difficulty completing their application. While this is not affecting all users, the site was placed into maintenance mode in order to identify and correct these issues.

Our team has made a few modifications to the site and are currently in the process of bringing Washington Healthplanfinder back online. We will continue to closely monitor the website for any performance issues and will take additional action as needed.

Again, the experience of our customers is our top priority and we thank you for your patience as we work to bring the site back up to Washingtonians statewide.”