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| We'll be making a return trip when it's less crowded. |
It’s
slow. It's confusing. In some cases, people who spend significant amounts of
time working their way through the process wind up being told they can’t get
any information now and will have to try again later.
NONE
OF THIS surprises me. Technological glitches are always likely to cause
problems, particularly in the early days of something.
So
while I took a quick look last week on Tuesday at the website
(http://getcoveredillinois.gov/) created by Illinois state government, I didn’t
really try to get any information or start the process on my behalf.
For
one thing, the process that we’re in now in which we’re supposed to sign up for
a health care plan will last six months. I do not plan to be one of those
people desperately trying to find something in the final days of March 2014.
But
I also realize that there is time – particularly since the policies that people
wind up getting for themselves through the Affordable Care Act will not take
effect until January 1.
I
PROBABLY WILL be one of those individuals who waits a few weeks before trying
to figure out what exactly my situation will be.
Maybe
I’ll be the guy who’s filling out my applications while kids come a-knockin’ on
my front door come Halloween! Or maybe I’ll find some early November day when I
happen to be up ridiculously late.
Perhaps
an application filed around 3 a.m. some day will come at a time when there won’t
be so many people (relatively speaking) trying to get on the computer at once.
Also,
I figure by then, things will start settling down. There won’t be the initial
rush of people that always causes computer programs to crash (just remember how
ridiculous it was to call up anything on the Internet in the morning and early
afternoon hours of Sept. 11, 2001).
I
SUSPECT THAT by showing some patience, I can avoid many of the problems. I also
suspect that many people who are going to be in need of the federal government’s
health care reform initiatives will do the same.
Now
I don’t doubt that people who tried to get a head start on their applications
last week experienced confusion.
A
part of the reason I didn’t even try to do an application Tuesday was that I
could see for myself that this has the potential to be a time-consuming
process. And I detest anything that requires me to both mindlessly sit in front
of a computer screen while also requiring me to provide sensitive (and
personal) information.
That
is a dangerous combination that could cause me to inadvertently do myself in!
ONE
THING DOES bother me about the assorted bits of coverage that tried telling us
how flawed the application was thus far. Many people claiming to be
reporter-types (I suspect they’re more ideological blowhards – even the ones I
know personally and sort of think of as being friends) went through the process
to give a “first-hand” account of how mucked-up things were.
I
wonder how much those ideologues wound up adding to the clutter – causing people
who seriously need help in obtaining some form of health insurance to have
troubles.
And
considering how they were determined to write commentaries trashing the
process, I’d question the legitimacy of anything they had to “report.”
They’re
the ones who have been trashing health care reform initiatives for years, while
also trying to justify the inactivity this past week of certain federal
government agencies and programs by calling them a “slimdown.”
ALL
THE WHILE ignoring the fact that so many people in our society lacking in
health insurance does cause a serious drag on our society’s overall economy. It
is a problem that needs to be dealt with.
While
some people are acting these days as though they merely want to add to the
cheap rhetoric that ensures nothing gets done!
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