Posted on October 1, 2013 by Ruth O’Brien
The “server overload” message, and even the error (null message), that you receive because of the heavy traffic today on healthcare.gov is deceptive. Yes, filling in your application today may be tough, at least in the states where I looked: Illinois (home of Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago); hopefully the future home of mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio (New York City), after his riveting interview this morning; as well as the home of Governor Chris Christie. Since we have over 700 “boros,”* cities, town halls, and school districts in the Garden State, most residents not only don’t vote (falling behind NYC in turnout), but also don’t know the name of their member of Congress, let alone their mayor, unless they’re eagerly participating in their locality. I remember a long time ago when our mayor was an O’Brien (boy, that was fun, though we are of NO relation, and he never knocked on my door when I was home).
But getting back to my IT point, do go on site and start “learning.” Learning about healthcare is a lot easier on these static pages. You can do your homework about what plan works best, and dismiss whatever fears you have by going to All Topics under the LEARN tab. I would guesstimate that there might be a bit of “social” reading.
Meanwhile, I have not even checked the District of Columbia to see if their servers are working. What brilliant timing that the government shutdown, more accurately known as the federal-government employee lockout, gives workers the day off to figure out their own healthcare. No matter what Salon says, this isn’t “involuntary servitude.” (Have some respect for global workers who do indeed perform involuntary servitude, given the laws of their sovereign nation-states.)
Who cares if the servers are slow? It’s good for all of us to be so eager that we have a collective wait, no?
*And yes, that’s how they spell boro in the state with some of the highest incomes and the lowest poverty rate. New Jersey residents pay some of the highest taxes in the U.S. for their “misspelling” privileges.
Ruth Frick O'Brien 