In recent weeks, several people have requested that I stop using the term "woodworkers" to describe those who were already qualified for Medicaid prior to ACA expansion but who have only enrolled since October 1st, for a variety of reasons.
The reasons for this may include not being aware that they qualified for Medicaid already; not knowing how to go through the (sometimes cumbersome processof applying/enrolling; feeling a stigma or sense of embarrassment about going on Medicaid; or other reasons. The reason these folks (around 2 million of them by my estimate) are referred to as "woodworkers" is because they've basically "come out of the woodwork" to enroll in every state (not just expansion states) over the past 6 months.
I do not mean to be offensive by using this term, but apparently some people feel it's derogatory. A few people have suggested that I switch to the term "Welcome Mat Enrollees"...as in, the HHS and state agencies have "put out the welcome mat" for these folks by streamlining the process and increasing awareness of the Medicaid & CHIP programs, who qualifies and how to apply.
I'm kind of torn here, so for the moment I'm just putting out a poll to see how regular readers of this site feel about it. I'm not promising that I'll change the description that I'm using, but I will at least take your comments and thoughts on the subject seriously.
I'll leave the poll up until Wednesday evening to see if there's a strong lean one way or the other (or possibly some other descriptive term which seems appropriate).
UPDATE: I see that there are several comments on this topic under other blog entries. I wasn't going to allow comments on the poll itself or not since I felt it might be a contentious issue, but so far the comments and emails I've received have been quite civil, so I'm opening it up for comments. I'll keep the poll open until tomorrow evening.
