October 24, 2013

Who are the "navigators"? Who stepped up to do this job, "helping" people who call for help with a hopeless but mandatory website?

Would you like that job? Probably not. Imagine, if you will, a person who does want that job. Someone desperate for a job, any job? Someone who wants a sitdown job that doesn't seem to involve any real work? Some naif who sees it as a way to help people? Some guy whose real job is a money-making scheme of his own? Some asshole who gets off on inflicting pain on fretful folk who simply must get through a door it looks as though he's got authority to open?

26 comments:

Henry said...

Or Mr. Incredible.

Wince said...

I got the impression that much of this was being funneled through grants/contracts with community organizing groups (remnants of ACORN, etc.) that then hire the navigators. The point being to keep these politically active networks flush with taxpayer cash.

If so, wouldn't these navigators be the same "activists" always hitting people up for money?

jacksonjay said...

I assumed the "Navigators" were for OFA and DNC data mining purposes.

tim maguire said...

I would expect them to be drawn from the same pool as every customer service job. People who need work and are willing to spend all day dealing with frustrated people.

Hagar said...

AA is over-analyzing again.
It is a government job they are steered to by ACORN, or whoever of the activist org.s; it's a paycheck, they do what they are told, and don't think about it.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Legions of people in this country have customer service jobs. And if costs run too high, we can always outsource to India.

Hagar said...

If you think about it, you don't last long.

Bill said...

Do you mean the actual people at the call center who answer the phones?
They are people who need jobs, any legal job, as you suggested at the start.
There are lots of such people and they deserve respect.
Tag: Why won't they eat cake?

Bob Boyd said...

Every spring ranchers castrate and brand the new calves. Participation is mandatory. Its part of the process of being enrolled into the herd.

Bob Ellison said...

A wise employer once told me, "Bob, there's a butt for every seat."

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides (2011)

"Captain Jack Sparrow is on a quest to find the fabled Fountain of Youth and crosses paths with a former lover, Angelica"

Mariposa said...

They didn't know the website was hopeless when they applied for the job. Call center customer service is a legitimate respectable job.

Larry J said...

Obamacare is an identity thief's wet dream. The Navigators aren't properly vetted. The systems aren't secure. People are entering the very information that makes it easy to have their identity stolen.

Having had that happen to me a couple years ago, there's no way I'd go to that website even if I had to.

ErnieG said...

Back when I was between jobs, I was offered a financial services job, provided that I qualify for a Life & Health insurance license, and a Series 7 Stockbrokers license. I took the Life & Health course, and with that background, I can not imagine any of these "navigators" taking that course or passing that exam. I expect that the requirements for the job are the right connections and the ability to fog a mirror.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

If you go by the known track record of other federal agencies, hiring practices are not very good.

TSA Hires Felon & Forces Airport To Issue Security Badge

Another Federal Agency hired Edward Snowden.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I say "known track record" because I'd imagine most of what goes wrong at the level of one or two people, most likely goes unreported, not only because in most cases the wrong doing involves "small potatoes", but because the behemoth that is the federal government, the largest employer of the largest economy in the world... never mind.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Maybe the whole problem is that the navigators aren't unionized.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Maybe the whole problem is that the navigators aren't unionized.

Anonymous said...

Federal Money funneled to Community Activist Groups who hire shady call center staffers.

Then add on Motor Voter Registration Activities :)

Michael said...

I think Inga should be a navigator

TosaGuy said...

Wisconsin requires background checks, fingerprinting and mandatory training of navigators -- the same standard it applies to insurance agents.

I was in comment battle elsewhere with someone who thought that these safeguards were the GOP's strategy to kill Obamacare in Wisconsin. Safeguarding PII was a foreign concept.

Anonymous said...

The IRS should pluck the info from taxpayers' tax returns and enroll everyone automatically to the most expensive plan, then require the taxpayers to jump thru loops and swim thru quicksand to opt-out.

Rename the Obamacare site to Obama-opt-out site, and require the taxpayers to snail mail confirmation of their info, and/or opt-out request. Voila, USPS is saved by the ingenious single-payer Obamacare!

Anonymous said...

TosaGuy said...
Wisconsin requires background checks

That is as racist as requiring a picture ID to vote.

Big Mike said...

On the one hand, the navigators should have background checks. On the other hand, it is fair to presume that the same people who vetted Bradley Manning and Ed Snowden would be vetting the navigators.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I think Inga should be a navigator

Inga would make an excellent ObamaCare Navigator.

oops, I think I just broke the commenting rules... and I did it again by commenting that I broke it.

I guess there is only one way to find out.

PB said...

the desperate, the naive, and the crooked.