PC World says 85% of Americans have internet. That leaves 15% out there that are probably the lower income and/or lower intellect groups that don't have internet. Expecting them to sign up online is like asking average Joe to work nuclear equations.
They’ll need a navigator to help them get signed up.
Then they’ll need defense and bankruptcy attorneys when the navigator steals their ID and ruins what credit they had left.
Understood (althought I have no idea what a nuclear equation is) but the larger point is Obamacare is supposed to be free and provide coverage to the small percentage of people who don’t have coverage.
In point of fact, most of those people who don’t have coverage choose not to otherwise they are certainly eligible for Medicaid. These people will not pay for their health care. I understand, and agree with, your point about computers, but these same people are NOT going to shell out any money for Obamacare. Besides, money they now would have to spend on Obamacare is marginally a high percentage of their government transfer payments. They won’t do it. So, Obamacare really won’t cover any of those not already covered by the safety net.
From what I've heard over the past two days, even smart folks are having difficulty navigating the O-Care system.
Many elderly still do not own or know how to operate a computer. My elderly parents had a computer, but only my mother knew how to use it to send e-mails. When she died, my father never bothered to learn how and to his death earlier this year never sat down at a computer. In fact, he didn’t know how to operate a micro-wave oven because she always did it for him. My older brother had to show him how to use one. And this was a man who could build a house virtually all by himself when younger and an expert carpenter.
The other day I heard Rush on the radio and he was saying even after the establishment of Obamacare, 20million of the populace will still be without health insurance.
A few years back, I received a phone call from someone looking for some technical information for a project she was doing. I later discovered she was getting paid for this, as well.
I couldn’t answer her question precisely, due to a lot of variables, and she was unable to provide me enough information so that I could narrow it all down. I directed her to a comprehensive website on the subject, one I have used in the past. She snottily replied that she would have to go to the library to use a computer.
This is someone who owns land, rents out property, does various other labor. Someone who once described her dream job as being a Lifestyle Counselor and being paid to tell others how to live *sustainably*. She could afford a computer. She has access to the Internet at the library. But what she wanted was for someone to hold her hand, walk her through a process and, I suspect, actually do the work for her, preferably for free. It is pure laziness.
IMO, that 15% is mostly reactionary elderly and a few off-the-grid types. I know of households where one partner refuses to use the Internet or send an email, while the other is comfortable with both. I also know people who refuse to pay for a computer or Internet access, but have no problem asking someone else to let them use theirs. This process has been taught in the lower grades for over 10 years. There are affordable devices available.
The so-called Navigators are supposed to assist people with Internet sign-up. The Dems understand their base.