She's gone. The smiling "Obamacare girl" who graced the homepage of healthcare.gov since its rollout has disappeared. According to Politico:

A spokesperson for the government agency responsible for the HealthCare.gov website told CNN that the redesign was part of an effort to highlight the different health insurance enrollment options the exchanges offer.

 

Where the woman's face used to be, a graphic now shows "4 ways to get Marketplace Coverage," with an image of a phone, computer, local help and paper application, each with a link to that method.

What's not to like about this face?

Not surprisingly, the young lady wants to stay anonymous:

As members of the press and public searched for the now-replaced woman on social media and the Internet, the government told the media it would not release her name, but all individuals' whose faces were used on the site specifically consented to it. Her face became synonymous with the error-ridden exchanges.

She's probably already altered her appearance significantly, poor thing. Reminds me of the unfortunate young man Steve Bartman who tried to catch a pop foul in the stands at a Chicago Cubs playoff game in 2003 but unintentionally interferred with the player trying to catch it. The Cubs were 5 outs away from their first trip to a World Series since 1945 and were ahead in the game 3-0. Following the Bartman incident, the Cubs collapsed and lost the series to the Florida Marlins.

Long suffering Cubs fans who believe their team is cursed (they haven't won a championship for 105 years), hounded the unfortunate man relentlessly. He had to endure death threats and ridicule by everyone from local politicians to national late night comedians. Of course it wasn't his fault. But he received the blame nonetheless.

Given the disaster that healthcare.gov has become, is it any wonder the Obamacare girl wants to remain unknown?