The deadline for Australians to opt out of My Health Record has been extended until the end of January after the Senate voted in favour of a delay.
The extension was confirmed by health minister Greg Hunt on Wednesday afternoon, amid reports the opt-out website was crashing under the weight of last-minute applications.
The opt-out window was due to close on Thursday and the majority of Australians would have had an online health record created in their name to allow the easy transfer of records between authorised doctors and specialists.
Labor attempted to rush through amendments in the Senate that would force the government to delay the end of the opt-out period by 12 months, but the crossbench powerbrokers would only agree to a more modest extension of less than three months.
Coalition senators did not oppose the extension, and health minister Greg Hunt confirmed on Twitter the Digital Health Agency would not proceed with automatic enrollments until January 31 next year.
Mr Hunt said the government had "worked with" the Senate crossbench to extend the deadline.
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson moved the amendment to extend the deadline to opt out to January 31.
AAP
Many users took to social media on Wednesday, complaining of jammed phone lines and a glitchy website that were making it impossible to opt out before the deadline.
About 4 per cent of Australians (1.147 million) have so far opted out of the electronic health record system, while around 300,000 have opted-in and created a digital record in the same period.
