Obama health care website stumbles under heavy traffic on deadline day for sign ups

Photo from President Barack Obama’s Facebook page.

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration’s health care website is stumbling under heavy traffic on deadline day for sign-ups.

Visitors to HealthCare.gov on Monday morning saw messages that the site was down for maintenance. At times the visitors were also directed to a virtual waiting room a feature designed to ease the strain on the site during periods of heavy use.

March 31 is the last official day to sign up for subsidized private insurance under President Barack Obama’s health care. People who start an application but cannot finish because of technical problems will get extra time.