Over the weekend, her smiling image was unceremoniously dropped from HealthCare.gov as part of a website home page redesign.
“As we move from the initial launch of the Marketplace into the continuing Open Enrollment, we wanted to highlight that there are multiple options to apply for health coverage,” a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services spokesman said in a statement. The new graphics “provide a better way to visually reinforce key information to users about options for applying at this point in time.”
Her face was replaced by four icons which direct users to either apply online (which doesn’t work very well right now), by phone, paper or with the help of a local assister.
For much of last week, reporters tried to figure out the identity of the mysterious woman. BuzzFeed was told by CMS that the woman “signed a release for us to use the photo, but to protect her privacy, we will not share her personal or contact info with anyone.” CNN couldn’t find her but asked her to give them a call. The Onion said she was starting to get a bit worried at how things were going.
The CMS spokesman couldn’t say if the image of the woman would return to the site someday, when the feds have less need to promote the availability of paper or phone applications.
