White House Limits Obamacare Marketing to Avoid Holiday Rush

Major retailers like Wal-Mart and Amazon.com are not the only ones worried about a torrent of holiday customers. The Obama administration has quietly scaled back its marketing efforts for healthcare.gov The New York Times reported. Officials are apparently afraid that the website cannot take the huge number of people expected to log on. Experts are expecting a massive rush of customers to the site because many Obamacare provisions are scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1. That's the day when many private health insurance plans will disappear because they don't meet Obamacare's requirements. It is also the date in which the tax penalty for those who lack health insurance starts.The problem is that Healthcare.gov the Obamacare marketplace for most of the country still is not ready. The Times reported that the site can only handle around 50,000 visitors. Some officials expect several million people a day to visit the site in the near future.Possible Impact on the Health Insurance IndustryThe White House was planning a massive Obamacare marketing effort with the help of unions and nonprofit groups. That effort has apparently been put on the backburner.The Obamacare news didn't help UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH). Its share price fell by .017% in mid-day trading on Nov. 28, 2013. Yet it seemed to help WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) the operator of the Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans saw its share price rise by .01% on Nov. 28, 2013. A smaller operator of healthcare plans, Molina Healthcare (NYSE: MOH) saw its share price fall by .27% on Nov. 28, 2013. It looks like Obamacare failures could be beginning to affect health insurance stocks.