Maryland Obamacare Website Offline for a Day and a Half

    Just a few days after announcing a number of delays in various aspects of the Maryland Health Connection (MHC) website, the state's Obamacare website, a belated press release issued late Monday [update: apparently posted around 10 AM Monday morning] noted that the site would be offline for almost a day and a half, from Sunday night to Tuesday morning of this week.  The advisory reads in part:

    Attempts to set up an account are currently met with the following message:

    Although the advisory says this was a "planned update" and the current greeting calls it "scheduled maintenance," the most recent press release on Friday, November 8, made no mention of the current shutdown.  That press release, however, did mention the delay of the site's bill pay feature, as well as a three month delay in the opening of the SHOP (small business) exchange.  Also, as Speak With Authority reported on Saturday, the MHC also withheld updated enrollment numbers because the state is "revising its approach to providing numbers of enrolled Marylanders."