* “Obamacare: Full Adult Diaper?”—my subhead for this very occasional
series, described here, subsection 6.
[Edit 2/8/14. Edits 2/23/14.]
My Obamacare minutiae—mentioned
perfunctorily
I don’t really want to go into a
lot of depth about my small part in the signup under the Affordable Care Act. I
did go on the federal “marketplace” Web site in December (I’m in New Jersey, and we don’t
have a state site for this). I filled out the application in what seemed for me
the right way. And I haven’t heard or gotten anything since: no e-mail, and no
letter or application package in the mail. (There was a perfunctory pdf of a
letter that came at the end of the process of applying on the federal site. It
was slightly erratic, stuffed with various info, and overall not too bad.)
In early January I did call the
state office that deals with Medicaid applications (I qualify for Medicaid)—and
I was told, as a blanket response, that they had gotten info from the federal
government (presumably, info from individuals’ applications through the ACA Web
site that qualified the applicants for Medicaid); now the state office had to
process this.
I presumed I would hear from
them again. I may call that office again this month (February) to find out what’s
up; but I’m in no great panic about it. I also think of paying the $95 penalty
next year if it happens I don’t get signed up for Medicaid this year. (What would
be more a focus of my vinegary thought and comments would be Gov. Chris
Christie’s role in the chintzy quality of the way, under the ACA, you were
forced to sign up for Medicaid in New Jersey.) [Clarification 2/8/14, edits 2/23/14: The form letter from the ACA resulting from my application, which issued out of the HealthCare.gov Web site, said I would get info related to the New Jersey Medicaid-application service, which happens to be (maybe a paraphrase) New Jersey FamilyCare. Meanwhile, in 2013 the FamilyCare Web site didn't have a capacity for someone like me, an individual wanting to sign up under the ACA program, to sign up for Medicaid, but there was a somewhat ambiguous piece of info saying the state would start processing ACA Medicaid applications in 2014. Meantime, I waited about three to four weeks from my initial application, and phoned the state Medicaid-application number on Jan. 6. I was told the state didn't have usable info from the federal government yet, and would be in touch with me when it did. So far, nothing--not by mail or e-mail.]
What is really of interest here
What I really wanted to talk
about here was something I was surprised to see when I checked into this blog’s
statistics a few days ago. An entry I had
put up in April 2012, in a series generally headed “Anecdotal Evidenz, Anecdote [number]” and with the specific entry title “A medical publisher tries to push someone off the unemployment rolls
(1996)”—it was on the not-huge firm Montage Media (which has been out
of business now for roughly a decade)—shot up in number of links the past
several weeks. I had mentioned this entry (in a list) at the end of the
two-part introduction to my “Dollars & sense” and related series: Dollars & sense: A new series; and some notes on other blog plans, and blog “logistics,” Part 1.
The Montage Media entry had 38
links in late December. Now it has approaching-twice that number. This is both heartening and ironic to me. Ironic because
that entry, while presenting a substantial enough story among all my
medical-media anecdotes, was (to me) something of an also-ran when I put it up
(my stronger interest was in other installments of the series); and it had
taken probably well over a year (from April 2012) to get the 38 links, I would
presume—and it was funny that, of the “Anecdotal Evidenz” series, it turned out
to be the one entry with the most links, by late December 2013. (End note)
But heartening because, even if it takes approaching two years from
April 2012 to generate the interest it has now (and it would also now be in the
Top 19 of my entries on this blog), at least when I aim to write on workplace
“perfidy,” sleaze, or the like, with the intent to get people to consider the
story and maybe discuss (not with me), this does sometimes come to fruition.
But it can take time.
I guess this April 2012 entry attracts the
interest it now does because, the average honest worker might ask, What could be
more dismaying than an employer you’ve left (and from which you got onto
unemployment) trying to knock you off the unemployment roles (though I make
clear that Montage couldn’t effectuate this—served them right!)? And what could
be more ironic than a supposed health-care-related employer doing this?
Well, this was also a New Jersey story—so, in
that regard, should it be any surprise?
Anyway, there are other entries
I have been in more of a long-range, concerted process to produce, so back to
those….
End note.
By “links” I mean what seems to
be likely as a few alternatives: people e-mailing my entry to someone else;
people copying or otherwise downloading the content to their storage devices;
people linking to it in a more typical way of Internet linking (e.g., as a link
on a blog or some other Web page); and whatever other option, generally showing
some pointed interest in the piece.
