Sam Allis did a column in yesterday's Globe about Chapter 58, the state's historic health insurance mandate, and how its fairing after its first full year. As he discovers, it ain't pretty. First of all, the number of the state's uninsured was seriously understated in the beginning. Turns out there are about twice as many as originally estimated. According to those who should know, this was known at the time the legislation was being pushed through.

The Romney administration also distorted the picture of the uninsured population by suggesting repeatedly that it was made up mostly of young, healthy people. The subtext here was that they weren't going to cost anything in the way of care, but would now be contributing to the care of those who needed it. As Allis discovered, that was hooey, too. "There is a major cohort of older people as well who need serious medical treatment at significant expense. Who planned this thing?"

I got my Commonwealth Care "Eligibility Review Form" in the mail last week, and wondered the same thing. The packet included a malicious amount of densely printed material, all in English, and no pictures! Insane when you consider that most of the people in my income bracket in Commonwealth Care can't, don't, or won't read. As soon as I looked at it, myself, my eyes started to cross. I was out cold inside of a minute.

The information comes in the four separate loose sheets, and in no particular order. The address you're supposed to mail the Eligibility Review Form back to is nowhere to be found on the form itself, but on another loose sheet. No less than three pages are dedicated to proof of citizenship, even though at the top of the separate six-page review form it says "you do not need to be a US citizen/national to get MassHealth." But then another whole page in the six-page form is dedicated to immigration status.

There are contradictory instructions, too, like the command to "answer all questions" followed by "fill out all sections that apply to you." So, do I have to answer all the questions or just all the questions in all the sections that apply to me?

If there's one thing that the Health Care Connector Authority, or whatever the hell it's called, is good at, it's giving out confusing and contradictory information. When I was setting up my account, I was twice quoted one monthly premium, but when the monthly bills started coming in it was significantly more. Needless to say, I went with the lower premium I had been quoted, although my monthly bill still reflects another amount. I thought about phoning or writing a letter to the Connector to explain the discrepancy, but then realized it would only increase the confusion.

I soldiered through the form, but still have to photocopy my passport to prove I'm not an illegal before I send it off. It's no big deal for me, but for people who spent their lives uninsured because they could not negotiate a bewildering system, this is, unfortunately, more of the same. The packet is an unmitigated mess, and I'll be interested to know how many actually come back filled out properly, or at all.