Obamacare sign-up deadline extended to Christmas Eve

The Obama administration Monday extended the sign-up deadline for healthcare plans under President Barack Obama's signature healthcare overhaul through Tuesday.

Monday was scheduled to be the last day for people to sign up for health care coverage that starts Jan 1, 2014. But the administration has extended the deadline one more day in case of last-minute high demand on the once error-ridden federal online marketplace, Xinhua reported.

"Anticipating high demand and the fact that consumers may be enrolling from multiple time zones, we have taken steps to make sure that those who select a plan through tomorrow will get coverage for Jan 1," said Julie Bataille, spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Service.

This is the second time that the Obama administration pushed back the sign-up deadline for people who seek coverage that starts Jan 1.

Originally the deadline was set Dec 15, which was pushed back to Dec 23 after the disastrous launch of the federal website.