Healthplanfinder returns after outage

On the eve of a crucial deadline, the state’s Healthplanfinder system is back up after an unscheduled outage impacted customers’ ability to choose a health plan.

Officials for the Washington Health Benefit Exchange say the Department of Social and Health Services reported the outage of the state’s eligibility service early Saturday. The system came back up at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

The service is critical in determining whether a customer qualifies for tax credits or Washington Apple Health.

Exchange officials said their inability to make the determination forced them to take Healthplanfinder offline until the state fixes the problem.

If a customer couldn’t select a health plan because of the outage, they could be eligible to enroll outside the standard enrollment window.

The exchange asked customers to check back before the open enrollment deadline Sunday, Jan. 31 at 11:59 p.m.

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 2:19 PM with the headline "Healthplanfinder returns after outage."