Paper applications will only add to the problems

And then there is the Administration's specious claim that filling out a paper application with the assistance of a "navigator" is an adequate alternative to enrolling in Obamacare on the healthcare.gov website.

In order to understand how the use of paper applications will only increase problems, imagine for a moment the system architecture of healthcare.gov. We can think of it as consisting of two main components:

1. a website that serves up pages that allow users to enter information and make selections;
2. a back-end server that communicates with a variety of external systems; imagine a giant wheel with healthcare.gov's server sitting at the hub, various external systems sitting at the end of the spokes, and digital (not paper) information passing back and forth between the central hub and the external processes through the spokes.

The external systems perform a variety of functions:

1. If the external system is an insurance company, then a.) it sends to the central hub information about the policies and premium rates that the insurance company offers and b.) it receives from the hub completed, validated user applications for its insurance policies.
2. If the external system is another government agency, then it receives from the central hub queries to verify user information (entered through the website) and sends back answers; for example, the external system might be the IRS and the central hub may ask it whether the SS# 123-45-5678 is a valid SS# for John Doe and whether last year John Doe's salary was $100K; the IRS will send back a digital reply answering yes or no.

Now, ask yourself: How is all this processing going to take place with paper applications? In particular:

1. How will users get the information about the policies and premium rates of various insurance companies? Will the navigator have access to all the latest information?
2. How will information the users provide be verified? Will the navigator call up all the various governmental agencies to verify the user's information?
3. How (and how securely) will completed user applications be forwarded to insurance companies?

Also, remember that eventually user information will need to be read off these paper applications and entered into computer systems by data processing personnel. After all, we live in a digital world. The information on the forms will often be incomplete, unverified, and even illegible and the data processing person will likely not have the applicant sitting next to them to supplement/correct the information on the application.

In fact, filling out paper applications will just add to the enrollment process steps that have the potential to introduce additional error and even fraud into the system. The whole reason for having a centalized healthcare.gov website was so that we could avoid all the inefficiencies and errors and invalid data that result from paper applications. And now people are being told that paper applications are an adequate alternative. On the contrary, paper applications will simply create more problems for Obamacare to deal with.