Source: Healthcare.gov

They're hurrying up — and waiting — to enroll in Obamacare. And many of them now will get some extra time to finish.

Customers scrambling to sign up in insurance plans sold through the federal Obamacare exchange by Tuesday night's enrollment deadline slowed down service on that marketplace's website during the day Tuesday. Many customers were being asked to remain in an online "waiting room" on HealthCare.gov, which serves residents of 39 states, until their application could be processed.

Because of the volume, the Trump administration will allow HealthCare.gov customers using the site's call center a grace period in coming days to complete their application on that exchange.

"In order to ensure that everyone who contacts us before the deadline has an opportunity to enroll, some callers in the 39 states using HealthCare.gov have been asked to leave their contact information," said a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. "Any consumer who leaves the information will be called back and able to complete their enrollment," the spokesman said. "HealthCare.gov is running smoothly and we are not extending the Open Enrollment Period." The end of that enrollment period if midnight Tuesday, Pacific Standard Time. People who sign up Tuesday will have coverage effective March 1. That decision mirrored an extension for last year's enrollment deadline granted by the Obama administration in light of the large volume of consumers visiting HealthCare,gov on the last day of sign-ups. And it came after a number of leading Obamacare advocates earlier Tuesday called for an extension by the Trump administration — which plans to repeal Obamacare and replace it with new legislation. The nation's second-largest exchange, Covered California, said Tuesday afternoon that it is giving customers in that state who have started an enrollment by Tuesday four extra days to complete the sign-up process. Minnesota's exchange, MNsure, on Saturday announced a one-week extension to sign up after the state passed new legislation designed to give price relief to customers who don't qualify for federal Obamacare subsidies that lower their monthly premiums.