Sunday, September 29, 2013

White House Graphic Leaves a Page Out of New "Simple" 3-Page Obamacare Application

    A Sunday blog post at Whitehouse.gov declares that "the new [Obamacare] application is so simple, it's 17 pages shorter than the current application you'd fill out to enroll in coverage in the individual market."  While the final version of the application has not yet been publicly released (several draft versions have appeared in the past), the White House blog features an animated GIF graphic to contrast the average 20-page application with the new 3-page Obamacare application:


The only problem is that close observation of the graphic shows that only two pages of the Obamacare application appear in the animation.  The slide labeled "Page 1" at the bottom appears as follows, with "Step 1" visible at the top:


However, when the slide changes to Page 2, the Obamacare application page doesn't change: "Step 1" is still at the top:


But when the slide changes again to "Page 3", the Obamacare application page suddenly changes to "Step 4" at the top:


Since October 1 is Tuesday, there won't be long to wait to see the real page 2 with the missing Steps 2 and 3.  But while the public might forgive the 33% error rate on this first attempt by the administration to unveil the new "simple" application, the actual launch of Obamacare on Tuesday will doubtless be subject to stricter scrutiny, and the ultimate success or failure of the program may ride on how well, or how poorly, the launch goes.

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