Forrest Carr's Blog, page 2

Obamacare and Me, Part II

He's back -- sort of!

I haven't been heard from much on my Facebook page, Google page, website or blog recently because over the last few weeks, I've been undergoing medical treatment for a life-threatening illness. I'm going to tell you about some of that now, and also update my difficulties with being forced by the Affordable Care Act to switch horses in mid-stream, as it were -- changing insurance providers at the height of my medical crisis.

In December I documented the events leading up to my first surgery in my blog entry, "Obamacare and Me." At the end of that episode, I appeared to be in good coverage shape, having successfully sorted, out on my own, the conflicting advice given to me by the confused employees at the Healthcare.gov chat center. My surgeries were scheduled, I had my new health insurance ID number in hand, and everything seemed fine.

Not so fast.

The first surgery, which was an outpatient procedure, was uneventful. But three weeks later, on the eve of the second surgery, I received a call from my new insurer telling me that neither of my doctors was an approved provider under the terms of my new plan. The insurer approved the upcoming surgery anyway under the principle of "continuity of care." This was the right thing to do, since both doctors had been treating me under my old plan, and since the need for the procedures was quite urgent. However, I was told that I would need to choose new doctors going forward.

This was quite a shock. Before signing up with my new insurer, I had verified via that insurer's web site that my primary care physician was an approved provider. Then, before my old insurance expired, I asked my primary care physician to refer me to a specialist who also would be on the new plan. He did so. I then double checked with the specialist to make sure he was indeed an approved provider with my new insurance company. His staff assured me that he was. My first surgery was an outpatient procedure and did not require advance authorization from the insurer. But the second surgery, taking place 3 weeks later, involved a hospital stay and did require authorization in advance. That is when the flag went up.

For me, it turned out to be a near miss. The truth was that both doctors were approved providers with the insurance company I had chosen, but not for the exchange plan I had purchased. I found the company website to be unclear on that point, and both doctors' staffs were confused about it as well. The case manager for the new insurer who contacted me the night before my second operation assured me that there was massive confusion on this point all around due to the fact that all the exchange plans were brand new, and provider contracts for those exchange plans were still in negotiation. Provider lists would not be finalized until the end of the open enrollment period. At the time, she didn't know whether my doctors were or were not signed up for the exchange plan I had chosen or would be in the future; she said it could simply be a matter of the paperwork not having been completed or not having shown up in the computer system. Also, she told me that although she had fought to approve my surgery under the "continuity of care" principle, she informed me there was a question as to whether my previous surgery would be paid for! She advised me that if the payment for that first surgery were to be rejected, I should appeal, and said my chances of winning would be good.

However, the company sent me a statement three weeks later showing that the costs for the previous surgery would be honored as well. This was an incredible relief to me, as you might imagine -- and speaks well of the provider I have chosen. But all of this has caused the rest of my hairs - what few I have left -- to turn grey.

Now I'm trying to avoid changing doctors. My specialist is an internationally known urologist who saved my life during a very difficult surgery. I like my doctors and want to keep them, as we were all promised at one point that we could. I have discovered, to my dismay, that my specialist is not yet on any of the plans offered through the government exchange -- so if I stay with Healthcare.gov, I'll definitely have to change to a new doctor. But my new insurance provider does offer different non-exchange plans that do include these doctors (hence the confusion, which a salesman told me today is widespread among its customers and providers). Since I do not receive a marketplace subsidy, I am free to change to a non-exchange plan -- otherwise, I'd be hosed. I'm evaluating those plans now, and if I can afford to switch, I will. At first glance, it appears a non-exchange plan with this same company will be affordable and may even save me money, depending on the benefits I select. I learned I have until March 15 to make this decision under the terms of the open enrollment.

There is a lesson in all this for others who are going through the open enrollment process under ACA. There is a great deal of confusion on all quarters because of the radical changes mandated by ACA, a.k.a. Obamacare. If, like I was forced to do, you are changing plans or have already done so, it appears there is still time to make sure your new plan meets your needs and will allow you to see your current physician. Even if there's been a mistake on that point, as there was in my case, there is a chance it can be fixed. In my case, no exchange plan with my new insurer will allow me to see my current physicians. But the company does offer other plans that will allow me to keep my doctors. I must decide by March 15, which is the deadline, I'm told, by which April plans must be purchased under open enrollment. I'm motivated to stay with my new company because it has treated me very well. But if I need to do so, I can explore going with a different company as well, without penalty. In any case, any medical bills I have incurred to date will be honored even if I switch.

Good luck to you! And if you know any insurance agents or can find one, my advice is to find one to help you, if you must buy new insurance. (A nod to my friend Randy Foulds in California on that point). This process, as it turns out, is very complicated to try to navigate on your own.

Meanwhile, on a personal note, I'm happy to say that my long term prognosis is good. In mid-December (right as I was signing up for insurance via Healthcare.gov, in fact) following a CT scan I got that phone call we all dread: "Mr. Carr, you have a 4 cm mass on your left kidney." Subsequent tests showed that the growth was even larger than that, and was a form of cancer called transitional cell carcinoma. I spent the next six weeks not knowing whether the rest of my life would be measured in months, or in years. On January 30, I went into surgery to remove the kidney. The specialist, who was also my surgeon, told me afterwards that the surgery had been very complicated because the kidney was enlarged to twice its normal length and had wrapped itself around the renal artery, requiring great care to remove it. As I said, he's very well known and respected in his field, and he was up to the task. But afterwards, in response to a direct question from me, he admitted that, after inspecting the lymph nodes in the surrounding area, he was concerned about whether the cancer had spread. He also hastened to point out that there was no way to tell visually. So, my wife and I waited another tense week for the biopsy results to come back. The results were clear. There is no evidence the cancer has spread.

I'm not out of the woods, of course. The medical profession measures cancer survival rates in five-year increments. My prognosis is very good but I'll have to undergo close monitoring from now on. That's why it's so important for me to retain my fabulously skilled physician. But if all goes well, I may live long enough to die of something else altogether.

Meanwhile, my recovery progresses. I'm not quite back on my feet just yet. I've lost 15 pounds and my appetite has not returned. Plus, the aftermath of a surgery like this is quite painful. But I get around a bit better every week. I hope to resume writing my third novel soon. Meanwhile, I'll have an exciting announcement (well, exiting to me, at least) about my first novel later this week.

I want to close by extending my heartfelt thanks to my surgeon, Dr. Sanjay Ramakumar. And also to the many friends and even strangers who've been praying for me, via personal prayers and organized prayer circles. I am very fortunate to have such friends and such support.

Obamacare and You

A few days ago I wrote you about how conflicting information and advice from HealthCare.gov ("Your enrollment is complete. Your enrollment is not complete. Wait for your insurance plan to contact you. Don't wait for your insurance plan to contact you") had left me worried that I might suffer a lapse in coverage. This would have been disastrous for me, because I am in the middle of a serious health issue requiring immediate treatment. No such lapse occurred, in part because I sorted out the conflicting instructions on my own, which led me to reach out to my insurance plan and make my first payment before the deadline.

The Associated Press reporter I contacted about the matter has continued digging into this. He's found cases where people in my situation did suffer lapses in coverage. One case, that of a woman here in Tucson, started off like mine: HealthCare.gov told her that her enrollment was complete and that she should wait to be contacted by the plan she had chosen. The contact never came. Finally she did reach out to the insurance company, and found that it had never received her application from the government. There was nothing she could do, and it took the intervention of an AP reporter to resolve it and restore her coverage.

The obvious point is, most people don't have reporters in their corner batting for them. According the AP, the insurance industry calls cases like hers "health care orphans" -- people who enrolled, and were then lost in the system. In many such cases, the conflicting, confused feedback from the government of the type I received ultimately was not relevant because no matter what the consumer did or did not do after enrollment, files had been lost and the information needed to allow the company to accept the first payment and activate the plan simply wasn't there. Interestingly, the insurance industry spokespersons the reporter spoke with disagree with the HealthCare.gov spokespeople about how serious the problem is.

Believe me, if you're in a situation like mine and you suffer a lapse in coverage, it's serious. The threat alone is enough to cause sleepless nights.

What can you do if you are in this situation? I'm not sure, but it might be worthwhile to contact a health insurance agent to see if they can champion your cause; you may may find it difficult to penetrate the thick jungle of government bureaucracy on your own. For another, you might consider contacting a reporter. Here in Tucson I recommend KGUN9. For those living elsewhere, if your favorite local TV station has a good consumer or investigative unit, try them. Or, you can contact the AP reporter I spoke with, Ricardo Alonzo-Zalidvar. He can be reached through the Associated Press Washington DC bureau.

Kudos to Alonso-Zaldivar and his co-writer Tom Murphy for not letting this drop.

Here is the complete article, as it appeared in my morning paper, the Arizona Daily Star.

http://azstarnet.com/ap/business/orph...

As for me, I had my first round of surgery three days ago and am recovering. Once I'm fully back on my feet, more surgery lies ahead.

Whom to think about (updated)

Like many people, every now and then over the years I have experienced flashes that may or may not foreshadow future events, or reflect knowledge of current events that I didn't previously know about. As I recently noted, months, sometimes years, go by between these episodes. It's very rare for one to take place on the heels of another. But it's happened often enough to make me to sit up and pay attention when such incidents occur.

I don't know about you, but for me the moments after awakening each morning are a time for random thoughts and musings. A stream of unrelated images flows through my mind for a while. Usually these feelings, pictures and scenes seem to come from nowhere, and aren't related to anything going on in my current life. They flicker for a few moments on my mental movie screen and then fade away, soon to be replaced by some other random thought. This reverie only lasts for a short time, before I swing my legs over the side of the bed and thrust my feet into my slippers with a determination to get up and face the day. After that, I'm dealing with the tasks at hand (breakfast, showering, sitting down to write, etc.) and my mental processes become much more businesslike, orderly and disciplined.

One of the first items that presented itself for review in my sleepy mental theater yesterday morning was the image of a traffic incident many years ago in Florida. I had not actually witnessed the event, but what suddenly appeared uninvited in my consciousness (apropos of absolutely nothing) was the imaginary scene I had built up in my mind upon hearing the incident described to me by the wife of the victim. It was one of those typical road rage episodes that you see or hear about all the time – someone cuts someone off, windows are rolled down, and middle fingers are raised. This one escalated; epithets were hurled, car doors opened, and the two combatants stepped out onto the pavement. Moments later, one man lay on the road, bleeding, crushed and mangled. He survived, but for all intents and purposes his life was over. He suffered some kind of nerve damage in the hit-and-run attack, resulting in a condition that caused the slightest touch on his skin to feel like a hot branding iron. A year after the incident, he was still under constant medical care. That's when his wife approached the TV newsroom where I worked, hoping for our assistance in tracking down the attacker, who still had not been identified. On mentally reviewing this incident yesterday morning, I vividly recalled how horrified I felt at the time to hear of the victim's suffering, and my dismay that the attacker had not been caught.

So it was with thoughts of road rage madness – crazed drivers deliberately turning their vehicles into metallic bone crushers – and with images of the horrifying aftermaths of such incidents occupying my mind that I got up to get the morning paper. Upon picking it up, this top-of-the-page headline confronted me: "Man intentionally runs over 3, killing 2 in New Year's fracas."

Those words tell the story. There was more in this morning's paper – it turns out that one of the victims was a Good Samaritan who came upon the scene of a man assaulting a woman, and tried to intervene. The Good Samaritan is dead. The woman he was trying to save is dead. The Good Samaritan's girlfriend is hospitalized in critical condition. The killer got away. As of this morning, police had not been able to identify a suspect.

Why would I find myself dwelling on a decade-old deliberate hit-and-run attack that I haven't thought about in years just before learning about a similar, even worse incident that had just taken place in the city where I now live? I'm sure skeptics would toss it off to "coincidence" – a strange and bizarre one, perhaps, but a coincidence just the same. I can't prove otherwise. But as John Donne once wrote so eloquently, no man is an island. I personally believe, based on many years of observation and study, that we are all bound together and surrounded by a force – call it the human spirit if you're secular, or God if you're religious – a force that is unseen but not unfelt, and that can manifest itself in strange, surprising, and memorable ways.

"Memorable" is the important word here. There is power, and destiny, in what we choose to remember. Coincidence or not, the remarkable way in which this incident presented itself to my attention has caused it to loom larger in my mind. And now here I am telling you about it – which I would not have been moved to do otherwise. In turn, now I ask you to think about it. There is plenty of evil out there, and we have to walk through the world with our eyes open. But as the Good Samaritan in this story shows us – his name is Patrick Balbastro, age 32, of Tucson, Arizona – good is out there, too. If you go looking for either, you'll find it. In the eternal struggle of good against evil, one of the most important choices we can make is the decision of what to look for, what to remember and exalt, and whom to honor.

I hope that whoever did this is brought to justice. Whether that happens or not, certainly he'll have to face his God, or his demons, eventually. In any case, let his memory quickly fade from the public's mind.

But I hope we never forget Patrick Balbastro. I'm very certain I am not the only one who feels that way. His story was called to my attention under circumstances that caused me to give it a great deal of thought. I now call it to yours, and ask you to do the same.

Please share this story.

Forrest Carr
Writer and recovering journalist

For more on this story:

http://azstarnet.com/news/blogs/polic...

1/9/2014 update:
Here is an update on the Good Samaritan story I wrote you about a few days ago.

The family of Patrick Balabastro is struggling to pay for his funeral, and has set up a bank account. The particulars, according to the Arizona Daily Star, are:

Patrick Balabastro Memorial Fund
Wells Fargo Bank
3381663297

The Star says donations can be accepted at any Wells Fargo branch in Arizona.

Obamacare and Me: Updated

I am one of the millions of Americans whose health care plans are being cancelled. I liked it. I wanted to keep it. I was told I could. I can't. Okay, fine. In canceling its coverage, my insurer referred its soon-to-be-former clients to the government health care marketplace at HealthCare.gov. I waited for that website to go live and then, hearing all about its travails in news reports, decided to wait further and give the problems time to clear up before applying. I spent hours comparing plans via the online Marketplace, and then filed my application one morning earlier this week. The process was quick and easy. I felt good about it, relieved not to experience the problems I'd heard about. Afterwards, the website reported that my enrollment was complete and advised me to wait to be contacted by the companies I'd selected to arrange for payment.

Fine so far. But the next afternoon, I received an email from the Marketplace stating the following: "You’ve taken the first steps toward getting health coverage at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to complete your enrollment." There was no explanation of what steps I had missed in failing to complete the enrollment, but the email did contain a link to a web page where it said I could finish up. I followed the link. It led back to the same page I'd seen before that had listed my enrollment status as "complete." It was still listing my enrollment status as "complete." I could find no reference on any of my account pages to the alarming email I'd just received, no information suggesting that I take any additional steps, and no buttons offering me the opportunity to do so. Atop the page, in huge black letters, was a question reading, "Forrest, what would you like to do?"

Just hours before receiving the email telling me that my enrollment was not complete, I learned from my doctor that I am in immediate need of major surgery. My current plan, the one that's being canceled, expires 12/31. What would Forrest like to do? "Not die" will do nicely.

At the bottom right hand corner of the page was a button reading "live chat." I clicked it. What followed next was – well, see for yourself. The transcripts are below. These are copied exactly from the chat sessions. (I've edited out the "please wait" and greeting messages from the top of each session; otherwise, these are unedited except where noted.)

Session #1

[6:33:35 pm]: Forrest

I completed my health care application yesterday, or thought I did. 3 hours ago I received an email containing this message: "You’ve taken the first steps toward getting health coverage at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to complete your enrollment. " Yet when I log in the screen says "status: complete." Which message is correct? What do I need to do now?

[6:35:15 pm]: Kartik
Thank you for your patience. I am still researching that information.

[6:35:21 pm]: Forrest
OK

[6:36:39 pm]: Kartik
Have you already choosen a plan?

[6:37:30 pm]: Forrest
I chose a health plan and a dental plan, submitted the applications, and my enrollment status, as I said, now reads as "complete" on the screen I receive after logging in.

[6:38:49 pm]: Kartik
You should be good. now you just need to wait for the insurance company to call you and set up the payment.

[6:39:13 pm]: Forrest
OK. Any idea why I would have received an email 3 hours ago, then, saying I wasn't good?

[6:40:16 pm]: Kartik
Its a glitch.

[6:41:06 pm]: Forrest
OK. Let's hope so. I just found out today that I will need surgery. My old health plan -- the one I liked and wanted to keep -- was canceled as of 12/31. So it's critically important that there be no lapses. Are there any pro-active steps I should take?

[6:43:27 pm]: Your chat session is over. Thanks for contacting us, and we hope we've answered your questions. Have a great day.

Session #2

Hi - I just had a chat session which was terminated before I got an answer to my final question. Please see the transcript of the chat session below. The question is at the end. This may be a "glitch" to you guys but it's life and death to me. I need to make sure I'm on the right track.

Transcript begins:

{Here I posted the transcript of the previous session. The response, after a delay of about a minute, was as follows:}

[6:43:27 pm]: Your chat session is over. Thanks for contacting us, and we hope we've answered your questions. Have a great day.

Session #3

[7:05:22 pm]: Forrest
Hi, Courtney. This is my third chat session in the last half hour. I keep getting terminated without my final question being answered. May I send you the transcript of the first chat session, or do we have to start from scratch?

[7:06:44 pm]: Courtney
You may provide me with your final question. I will be happy to answer it for you.

[7:07:39 pm]: Forrest
Well, the final question won't make any sense without knowing what I'm talking about. Okay, we'll do it piecemeal again. Here is the issue. I completed my health care application yesterday, or thought I did. 3 hours ago I received an email containing this message: "You’ve taken the first steps toward getting health coverage at HealthCare.gov, but you still need to complete your enrollment. " Yet when I log in the screen says "status: complete." Which message is correct? What do I need to do now?

[7:09:27 pm]: Courtney
Did the email provide a hyperlink?
[7:09:55 pm]: Courtney
After you completed the application did your veiw your eligibility results?

[7:10:15 pm]: Forrest
It did. I followed it. It led to my log-on screen. I logged on. I see a status messages that reads, as I said, "Enrollment complete."

[7:11:10 pm]: Courtney
To complete your enrollment, you would need to veiw, compare and choose a plan to enroll in.

[7:12:28 pm]: Forrest
Been there, done that. I chose a health plan, and chose a dental plan, and submitted the applications - which now reads, "complete." Now we're at the halfway point of the previous session. What do I do next?

[7:15:22 pm]: Courtney
If it shows that you have been successfully enrolled into the plan you chose, you then would need to contact that plan and set up how, and when to pay your premium.

[7:16:38 pm]: Courtney
You must make your first premium payment before your coverage starts. Generally, you must make your first premium payment on or before December 23, 2013, for the Marketplace to guarantee that your health coverage begins January 1, 2014. However, your plan may extend the time you have to make your first premium payment. For more information about when your premium payment is due and how to make your payment, please contact your health insurance company of your choosing.

[7:16:47 pm]: Forrest
OK, now you're giving me different advice from the last agent, who told me I need to wait for a phone call from the insurance companies involved. That is also what the information on the application stated. But now you are telling me I need to call them, is that correct? Is that why I received an email saying that my enrollment was not complete? And if that is the case, why does my greeting screen say just the opposite on log-in?

[7:19:53 pm]: Courtney
If you had received the message that your enrollment was a success. You would then contact your plan to set up your premium payment. For information about when your premium payment is due and how to make your payment, please contact your health insurance company.

[7:21:02 pm]: Forrest
OK. I have drilled through all of the screens on my account. I see no contact information for either company. Can you direct me to this?

[7:21:44 pm]: Courtney
Do you know the company you enrolled with and the state the company is in?

[7:22:42 pm]: Forrest
The dental plan is {I am deleting this for privacy}. The Medical plan is {also deleted}. Both plans were offered as part of the Arizona coverage. I don't know offhand where either is based.

[7:23:28 pm]: Courtney
Thank you. One moment please while I look that up.

{While she looked it up, I drilled again through every screen I could find on my Marketplace account to make sure I had not missed any instructions directing me to call a specific number or to go to a specific web page in order to make my first payment.}

[7:26:54 pm]: Forrest
While you are looking it up -- are you sure this is the way to do it? Will either company know who I am when I contact them? I just double checked and there is NO contact information on the marketplace comparisons, nor in the application process, which clearly stated to wait to be contacted. Will the companies have my information?

[7:29:40 pm]: Courtney
{Here Courtney pasted a phone number and web address for the health coverage company.}

[7:31:45 pm]: Forrest
OK, thanks. And what about {the dental company}. Also, please see my previous question. I'm concerned about the conflicting advice, and just learned today that I will need major surgery. My existing plan was canceled as of 12/31, so I can't afford any lapses.

[7:33:10 pm]: Courtney
I apologize. Thank you. One moment please while I look that up.

[7:37:25 pm]: Courtney
{Here she provides a phone number for the dental company, but still did not answer my question about whether the companies will have my information when I call them.}

[7:37:49 pm]: Forrest
Thank you, Courtney. I'm still looking for an answer to my final question, which is, to repeat: are you sure this is the right way to do it? The application process clearly stated that I should wait for a call. The previous agent said the same thing. Now you're saying the opposite. When I contact the companies, will they know who I am? I'm very concerned about this because I just learned today that I will need major surgery. My old plan was canceled out from under me as of 12/31, and I cannot afford any mistakes that might lead to a lapse in coverage.

[7:42:46 pm]: Courtney
As previously noted above. If you have recieved the message saying that your enrollment was a success you would need to contact the plan about premium payment. You must make your first premium payment before your coverage starts. Generally, you must make your first premium payment on or before December 23, 2013, for the Marketplace to guarantee that your health coverage begins January 1, 2014. However, your plan may extend the time you have to make your first premium payment. For more information about when your premium payment is due and how to make your payment, please contact your health insurance company.
[7:44:29 pm]: Courtney
You may also wait for a call from your plans and then discuss your payment set up then, if you choose.

[7:45:42 pm]: Forrest
I don't think we're connecting. I received an email telling me that my enrollment was NOT a success and that I needed to log in again to complete it. When I log in, I get a message that tells me my enrollment status is "complete." Please note that these two messages say opposite things. That is why I have contacted you. Which message is correct? No one seems to know. So I contacted this chat service. Now I'm getting diametrically opposing advice about the diametrically opposing messages. I'd really like to get it sorted out before this chat session ends.

[7:51:03 pm]: Courtney
A glitch may have caused an error in the messages. To check the status of your information to see if your enrollment was a success you will need to contact the Health Insurance Marketplace Call Center. Their telephone number is 1-800-318-2596. Representatives are available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For privacy protection in live chat we are unable to access or accept personal information. I apologize for the inconvenience.

At this point, I thanked Courtney and ended the chat session. Kudos to her for at least not disconnecting me. (And let the record reflect that she was very courteous throughout the exchange).

First thing the next morning, I went to the insurance company website to which Courtney had directed me. That address consisted of a 1-sheet that stated the following: "The Health Insurance Marketplace will let {company name deleted} know that you have enrolled. This may take up to a few weeks. Then, we will send you a 'Notice of Acceptance' in the mail.... Please wait for the Notice of Acceptance to come in the mail before you make your payment [that last sentence was bolded in the original.]"

What?!?!?! Oh, my GOD. My heart leapt into my throat. That was so not going to do. A weeks-long delay would leave me in a world of hurt, as I had patiently explained to two agents (I'm not counting the one that simply wrote me off as a bad job and disconnected me right out of the gate.)

Trying not to panic, I called the phone number listed on the 1-sheet, and reached an insurance company agent. I gave him a summary of the odyssey listed above. He told me that I had not called the correct number, and then added, somewhat phlegmatically, that I been given "a lot of wrong information." No kidding! But he did give me the correct company number to call. And within an hour I was signed up. I will be paying about $35 more for health and dental coverage similar to what I had before.

The process of getting there would have left me with a few more gray hairs if it weren't for the fact that I'm bald, but when all was said and done, I did receive coverage. No harm, no foul, right? And I'm sure Obamacare defenders will be quick to say that the inconvenience and minor panic I experienced were a small price to pay for the fact that millions of Americans who didn't have health insurance before will now be able to get it. I won't argue. But here's the thing. The confused, conflicting, maddeningly glitchy mess I encountered in my dealings with HealthCare.gov and its agents does not inspire a great deal of confidence that the government knows what it's doing with our health care – control of which it has largely wrested from us. Based on what I've seen in the media, my experience is not unique, or even the worst. If the government is going to compel our participation in Obamacare under the authority of law and threat of penalty – which it has – then it damned well ought to get it right. Telling us the stone cold truth, giving us accurate instructions, and showing a little customer service would be a really good start. Strike that: it would be a welcome change. The option of starting with those things has passed.

Update: I contacted a reporter for a major national news outlet about this. The reporter got back to me today (12/30). He said the HealthCare.gov press office admitted that the email I received telling me that my enrollment was not complete was sent out by mistake. No explanation was offered as to why, despite three attempts, I had not been able to get my questions answered via the chat service.

You will not see this on the news, however. While the reporter agrees with me that others are probably getting the same conflicting emails and advice from HealthCare.gov, he believes they'll be able to figure it out on their own, just as I did.

Of course, the point is that they shouldn't have to figure it out on their own. That's what the chat service is for. Isn't it?

A little after talking with the reporter referenced above, I received an email from HealthCare.gov inviting me to take a customer service survey, which I did. The survey asked me about the health insurance I had enrolled in "today." Today is 12/30. I enrolled on 12/18. It seems obvious there is a severe lack of synchronization between HealthCare.gov's email service and the real-time status of its customer accounts. You might want to keep this in mind should you receive a confusing email from HealthCare.gov.

Now you know. Apparently, you won't be able to learn this any place else (so feel free to share the link to this blog.)

Forrest Carr
Writer and recovering journalist
forrestcarr99@gmail.com

1/5/2014 update:
In this morning's Arizona Daily Star is the story of a woman whose case bears similarities to mine. HealthCare.gov assured her that her insurance company would contact her. It didn't. Her letter of acceptance never arrived, and now she is without insurance.

Here is the link (see the Van Daele case):
http://azstarnet.com/news/local/south...

"Messages" - now in print

The print edition of Messages is now available!

Many of you have asked for it. Now it's here. You can get a hard copy of Messages now from Amazon.com and from Barnes & Noble, and the availability is also in the process of rolling out to other retailers. Book sellers should be able to get it at wholesale prices from CreateSpace via their normal channels of distribution (or retailers can contact me directly and I'll be glad to assist).

I set the list price just about as low as the printer would let me – but by their nature, hard copies cost more than an electronic version. However, I've signed up for the Kindle Matchbook program: if you buy the print version from Amazon, then you can get the Kindle version (now or later) for 99 cents.

Messages holds a 4.7 star rating on Amazon.com and a 4.07 rating on Goodreads. Here's what critics and readers are saying:

"A masterful expose of TV news. Carr’s novel is engrossing, fun to read and a joy to see play out to its inevitable, tragic, hilarious and scandalous conclusion. Take this book home. You won’t be disappointed."
-- Tim Schwartz, MoCoVox.com

Reader posts:
-- "Makes you feel like you are reading M*A*S*H, only set in a newsroom."
– "Great read! Twist and turn plot and many laugh out loud moments."
– "Fast paced and funny."
– "Better than Anchorman."
– "Loved it! It's hard to put the book down once you've started."
– "... a fun ride with unexpected twists and bumps. I can't wait for the sequel."
– "... a must read that will leave you entertained, amused and even enlightened."

Here's more on what the book is about:

Tagline: In the cutthroat world of TV news, sometimes the only thing worse than missing the big story, is getting it."

Summary from the back cover:

"And what did the boss say?" Regina demanded.
Austin locked eyes with her. "He said our stories need more vagina."
Regina recoiled as if Austin had poked her with a sharp stick. "He said WHAT?"
Austin held his hand up. "As God is my judge. That was the word he used."

What kind of crazy newsroom is this? It's the kind that three friends encounter as they embark on a broadcast journalism career at the height of the Golden Age of TV News. In their quest for Truth, Justice, and Ratings, they'll risk it all, battling profit-minded owners, idiotic managers, dishonest businessmen, out-of-control public officials, and dangerous criminals. Before it's all over, one will be in a fight for his job, another will be fighting for his sanity, and the third will be in a fight for his very life. Written by Forrest Carr, an award-winning 33-year veteran of local TV news, Messages gives a never-before-seen glimpse into the inner workings of local television newsrooms and of the journalists who work and struggle within them.

Availability:

As of this posting the book has rolled out to two on-line retailers that I know of. They are:

Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Messages-Forres...

Barnes & Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/messa...
(Interestingly, as of this posting, Barnes & Noble has the best price!)

Plus, your favorite bookstore should be able to order it for you, once the title is fully populated in all the distribution systems.

And as always, let me repeat my standing request: If you read it and like it, please consider posting a reader review for me! I'm finding that the number one problem for all new authors is the simple task of breaking through the obscurity barrier. Reader reviews are critical!

Happy holidays,
Forrest

Getting the last word, and why it matters

I'm sure all I have to do is mention the word "anniversary" today (12/14/2013), and everyone will know what I'm talking about.

The horrible events of one year ago formed a unique bond between Tucson and Newtown. The connection was forged in two acts of mindless gun violence. But that's not what kept it alive. Caring, concern and compassion did.

On January 8 of last year – less than a month after Newtown's horror, and on the anniversary of Tucson's own tragedy – the Tucson's Ben's Bells organization reached out to that heartbroken city. I wrote a column about it for KGUN9.com and for the national Radio TV Digital News Association website that's still pertinent today. The title of the piece is "Getting the last Word, and Why It Matters." In this case, one year later, I believe we can say with confidence that caring people did get the last word. I've copied excerpts from the piece below.

At the time this was written, Newtown was weary from the flood of media coming in to cover the horrific events at Sandy Hook Elementary, and so outsiders were not precisely welcome. But the town greeted the Tucson visitors – and the KGUN9-TV news crew that tagged along with them – with open arms. Those caring volunteers from The Old Pueblo did not go away. The Ben's Bells Newtown studio is open for business today. Find more at the end of the column below.

Ben's Bells: Getting the last word, and why it matters
Jan. 11, 2013
Notes and commentary by: Forrest Carr [then KGUN9 news director]

This week 9 On Your Side had a chance to cover one of the most remarkable stories we've come across in a long time. We'd like to take a moment to tell you about it, to give you a "behind the scenes" look at how the coverage came about, how it's affected us personally, and what we think the event means for our community.

Last week we learned that volunteers from Tucson's Ben's Bells organization were planning a trip to Newtown, to coincide with the second anniversary of January 8, 2011 shootings in Tucson. The purpose of the trip was simple: to reach out to that community, which is now going through what Tucson went through two years ago, with acts of kindness.

When I learned of the trip, for about two seconds I considered the possibly of going along to cover it -- and then rejected the idea out of hand. Why? The Newtown community had let it be known that it was sick of the media, which had not always behaved well during coverage of the horrific events at Sandy Hook Elementary. I did not want KGUN9 to contribute to that intrusiveness or add to the community's burden, or to be perceived as doing so.

Later in the day, our senior producer, John Glenn, approached me and suggested that we should go. Again, I thought about it for about two seconds, then said "No."

John is one of those behind-the-scenes people whom the public does not know, but whose work you see every night. He is in charge of our 10pm newscast, deciding what stories to include, helping to direct coverage, and writing much of the newscast. He's passionate about his job -- and was passionately unhappy with my decision. So, I invited him to present a formal written proposal, explaining why we should go, how we would conduct ourselves while there, and what was in it for that community and for our viewing audience in southern Arizona.

On January 3, John gave me a document titled, "Standing Together." It included a one-sentence summary of the coverage mission: to show "how Tucson has healed and how this community is helping another overcome the same trauma."

To reinforce the planning document, John shared with me a "parable" that he had heard on Aaron Sorkin's "West Wing" TV series. It goes something like this. A guy falls into a hole. A priest walks by. The guy says, "Hey, can you help me out?" The priest scribbles a prayer and throws it down to him. Next, a doctor ambles by. The guy in the hole cries out, "Doc, can you help me?" The doctor writes down a prescription, throws it into the hole and walks on. Next, the victim spots a friend walking by. Again, he sings out, "Dude, can you help me out?" The friend then jumps down into the hole. Our hero says, "Why did you do that? Now we're both stuck!" The friend says, "Because I've been in this hole before, and I know the way out."

We went.

In the aftermath, we all agreed that as journalists, we have never seen a story quite like this one.

As news director, I had to be concerned about the potential for backlash -- both from Newtown, and from members of our own Tucson public… I asked John whether he had shared those same concerns. Yes, he had. What overcame them? "You see so much dark and negative stuff in the news, and even in our entertainment. And here is an actual positive thing that people are doing, that our neighbors are doing, people we know." John said what convinced him is that he simply had faith that telling this story was the right thing to do.

The proof, of course, would be in the reception that the volunteers -- and us along with them -- got on scene. Jennifer admits that she was nervous about that, "Knowing that the people of Newtown really had just had enough with the media.... They'd been invaded, and had to deal with members of the media who were not always respectful of their privacy. We had heard stories of the media being kicked out of places, and neighbors yelling at members of the media. And rightfully so."

The first test came when she and KGUN9 chief photographer Jon Perra walked into a local family-owned diner carrying their TV camera. They were just there to eat breakfast, mind you, but they couldn't leave the camera unattended, and had to take it in with them. The reaction? "Everyone was kind to us," Jennifer said. "We ordered our breakfast, which was delicious. After breakfast I went up and said 'Hello' to the owner and thanked him for the meal." She explained what she and Jon were doing in town. "I said, kind of jokingly, 'Thanks for not kicking us out after seeing the camera.' He said, 'No, I'm glad you guys liked the breakfast, and we're glad you're here.'"

Jennifer spotted a wall in the diner filled with cut-out paper hearts that people all over the world had sent. They were from places such as Africa, Australia, Mexico -- and yes, from Arizona. "I said, 'That is a beautiful display of kindness there.' I asked if I could take a picture. He said, 'Knowing why you are here, go for it. I think it's a beautiful thing.'"

The Ben's Bells folks set up shop in a local bed and breakfast. Word spread quickly via social media and the local press about why they were there. The Murzin family, which lives in the area, wanted to be a part of it, and showed up on the morning of the 8th to help.

I asked Jennifer how she got to know the Murzins. "One of the things I tried to do while we were there was, instead of approaching people to ask them to do an interview, I just talked to people. And just had conversations." She noted that in our deadline-driven business, "It's so rare that we ever take the time to just stop and talk to someone, just to get to know them."

She went on to say, "I noticed that they had some kids, and their youngest was about the age of my little boy." The conversation picked up from there. "There was no point at which I said, hey, I want to interview you," Jennifer said. But when the Murzin family learned why she and Jon were there, they invited them to come along as they distributed about 40 of Ben's Bells.

One of those bells went to a woman named Renee Gilbert, who was helping to staff what you might call a "caring tent," showing up every day to dispense hugs, a warm touch and a smile to anyone and everyone who needed it. While Gilbert wasn't looking, a Murzin family member hung a bell on her vehicle. It was one of about a thousand of Ben's Bells that volunteers spread around town - at police stations, volunteer fire stations, and for people like Renee. Many of the bells were intended simply as random messages of kindness. But some, such as the bell for Renee, were for specific people or organizations, each proclaiming in its way, "You cared, and we noticed."
Ben's Bells executive director Jeannette Maré tells KGUN9 that the Murzin family members were among about 100 people from the Newtown area who showed up to help distribute the bells. She said the feedback from the community has been astonishing. "Tons, pages and pages and pages of positive feedback," she said. "It's been an overwhelmingly beautiful response -- way, way more than we could have ever imagined."

In practical terms, perhaps, the gesture from the Ben's Bells volunteers was no big deal, consisting of no more than the simple act of hanging a few small, inexpensive bells strung with some trinkets and a message.
But looked at another way, it's a really big deal, perhaps the biggest deal in all the whole, wide world.

Reflecting on the trip and the coverage, Glenn said, "I think Tucsonans just need to know that despite all the bad people out there, who are acting on whatever greed, their need for whatever this or whatever that, whatever drives them -- there are very, very good people living right next door to you, who are so selfless that they will dedicate their time, their efforts and their energies into just making someone else feel better when they really need it."

Jennifer summed it up this way. "This was a chance for our viewers, and for those volunteers, and for those people in Newtown, and even for us in the media to see the best in people. And that's what we need. That's what all of us need. To feel like there's still good in the world. And honestly, there's a lot more of that in the world than there is bad, but it just gets overlooked. We tend to forget that."
For Jennifer, the assignment had one unexpected effect on her. "That trip for me was probably the most rewarding thing I've ever done as a journalist."

To understand why, you must understand this: The quiet tinkling of every Ben's Bell loudly proclaims that the cruel, evil, and violent who walk among us do not speak for humanity, and they do not get to have the last word.

The front side of the Ben's Bell tag reads: "You have found a Ben's Bell. Take it home, hang it and remember to spread kindness throughout our world. 'Remember there's no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.' - Scott Adams"

The reverse side of the tag distributed in Newtown read: "Ben's Bells Project: This Bell symbolizes our connection as a community and the power we each have to change the world by committing to kindness, one interaction at a time. We surround all of those who were affected by the events of Dec. 14, 2012 with love and kindness."

Ben's Bells website
http://bensbells.org/

Ben's Bells Newtown Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/BensBellsNewtown

Recent update from KGUN9 News: "Ben's Bells' connection to Newtown continues to grow, one year later":
http://www.jrn.com/kgun9/news/Bens-Be...

The full "Getting the last word" column as originally posted:
http://www.jrn.com/kgun9/news/1865221...

"Journal" reader feedback

A Journal of the Crazy Year has been out for a couple of months now. I'm thrilled to say that quite a few copies moved during the recent promotional event on Amazon – many thanks to my new friend Travis Luedke for his assistance. The pace of reader feedback is beginning to pick up as well. As I type this, Journal holds a 4.5 overall rating on Goodreads, and 4.6 on Amazon.

I'm an old school science fiction fan from way back, having grown up reading the works of the grand masters, such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and their contemporaries. Because of my upbringing, so to speak, I'm a firm believer that science fiction should, to the fullest extent possible, follow the rules of nature. Of course, you have to dodge some of them – for instance, there will be few novels about interstellar travel if we don't find a fictional device to get us around the speed of light. But having come up with a star drive, a sci-fi writer can't suddenly dispense with other physical laws. It's amazing to me how many fictional works – especially sci-fi movies – do exactly that. Such violations can be as simple as hearing a big ol' "swoosh" in the vacuum of space as a starship whizzes by, or as mindless as having astronauts "walk" from one spaceship to a different one that's not even traveling in the same orbital plane. The list goes on and on.

The desire "to keep it real" presented a problem to me when I decided to finally write the zombie tale that's been banging around in my head for years: how do you get around the fact that no complex organism has ever been scientifically shown to rise from the dead? (And I might add, some readers have a real problem with that from a religious standpoint.) For fictional purposes, we can simply wave a wand and say that zombies do that – which is exactly how most zombie tales proceed. Such stories are pretty far afield from science fiction – not that there's anything wrong with that; I love a good horror story, too. But, as an alternative, can we find a plausible way to tell the zombie story without having to invoke supernatural forces? And by the way, for this purpose simply saying that a zombie is "infected" won't do – not if the zombie is said to have been dead before being re-animated by the disease.

It was with that thought in mind that I delved into the research for Journal. And the research paid off. The novel's prologue (which you can read for free by way of the "Look Inside" feature on Amazon.com, whether you have a Kindle or not) is not fictional. The disease it discusses really did happen. The facts detailed in the prologue are substantially correct; the disease mysteriously appeared, and then disappeared just as mysteriously, as described. Could it return, in an even more virulent form? That question sets the stage for a zombie story that, while unlikely, nevertheless does fall within the realm of possibility – while, at the same time (as a side benefit) not requiring anyone to set their religious convictions aside.

I've also been fascinated for a long time with the idea of lost civilizations. There is evidence to suggest that our current advanced civilization, which has about 5,000 years of recorded history, was not mankind's first, and maybe not even his second. What happened to those earlier civilizations? Why did they disappear? Was there some kind of disaster? Could it happen again?

Throw those questions into the pot of our current crazy 21st century world, add in an old-fashioned boy-meets-girl love story, toss in a comet or two, stir, and you have "A Journal of the Crazy Year."

Here's what readers are saying so far, along with some reaction from me:

Sara (just posted this week): Five stars. "I don't write many reviews, so I apologize for the brevity. My family almost didn't have mashed potatoes or cranberries on Thanksgiving, and it's thanks to this book! Could NOT put it down. Absolutely loved it."

My reaction: Thanks, Sara! The words "could not put it down" are the kind of praise an author fantasizes about hearing! That is the exact effect I was aiming for.

Fantascize.com: Five stars. Reviewer F.J. Bayog of this popular sci-fi and fantasy site gives a nod to the ton of research that went into the book, calling its historical and scientific details "impressive," and writes: "The origins of the comets and some cool references to Atlantis and the Genesis flood, interestingly make a point that history is about to repeat itself. There's education and mystification in the midst of the thrilling narrative, and they fit well." The reviewer goes on to place me in some pretty impressive writing company, concluding: "If you like World War Z [Max Brooks], Cell [Stephen King] or other apocalyptic stories that inquisitively examine the humans' dark psyches and moral tendencies, A Journal of the Crazy Year is worth checking out."

My reaction: I really appreciated this review not only because it came from someone who consumes tons of sci-fi and cranks out a lot of reviews for a widely-viewed site dedicated to the genre, but because the scientific and historical details made a difference for this reader – as should be the case for all good sci-fi!

"The Voracious Reader": Four point five stars. She writes that she is no big fan of the zombie genre but then goes on to say, "This one surprised me. I loved it…. Will look forward to more from this author."

My reaction: Zombies are big right now, and there are a lot of zombie books out there, some of them really good. I deliberately set out to write one that's a bit different, a novel that might appeal to not only those fans but also, perhaps, to a larger audience as well. That meant that I couldn't simply emulate what was already out there. There's action in the novel, of course – some people do get eaten (a good zombie will do that). But there's also a love story and even a literary allusion or two, along with the fruits of many days of research time spent on line and in a university medical sciences library. At the recommendation of one of my new writer friends, a few weeks ago I asked Judy Shafer, a prolific reviewer of all genres who writes a blog called The Voracious Reader, to take a look at my work, and I was nervous about her reaction. When the review came in, I was very pleased to see that at least with her, I seemed to have accomplished that goal of writing something with broader appeal.

"Dawn G": Four stars. She writes, "The story surprised me and the ending wasn't what I anticipated. It was nice to read a PA [post-apocalyptic] book that I didn't have mapped out by the second chapter."

My reaction: Yes! Like Dawn, I consume a lot of fiction, both in written form and by way of watching TV and motion pictures. Many times when viewing one of the latter with my wife, I'll turn to her after five or ten minutes, and then accurately predict the ending, or at least the essence of it. She hates it when I do that. So I don't want it done to me, and that was one of my key goals when I sat down to write. Yes, in Journal people do get munched, zombies get shot by the dozens, and civilization as we know it skids off the road. But there's more to it than that. The main character has to make some decisions that will affect not only his wife's life, but perhaps the fate of the race. And in the interest of not spoiling the ending, that's all I'll say about that.

"Randi" gives Journal five stars. She writes, "This is a unique take on a 'zombie' type of book which made it fun and interesting! …The twists and turns make it hard to put down (thanks for no sleep that night when I found myself finishing it up at 4 am on a work night!) and the ending was just so unexpectedly PERFECT." She goes on to say, "You will get some gore [zombie novels must have action!] but mainly, you will get a story of the love a man has for his wife and how he will do anything to make sure that she survives."

My reaction: Randi posted her review about two days after I published the novel – I have no idea how she got hold of it and finished it so fast, but was I thrilled at her comments. She is a self-styled "zombiehead" – so the fact that she liked this book while also acknowledging that it's not the traditional type of zombie story she's used to reading made my day. I was also really happy to see that she liked the love story, a part of the novel that was very important to me. And for reasons noted above, I was glad both that Randi felt good about the ending, and that she didn't see it coming.
"Journal" was my second novel, but my first sci-fi. I got into this self-publishing business because, for one, I had some stories I wanted to tell, and for another, I needed to see if my writing style had any chance of flying with the public. The feedback I've received so far (my other novel, Messages, has a 4.09 rating on Goodreads and a stellar 4.7 on Amazon) suggests that, at very least, I have potential. I can't tell you how encouraging I find that to be!

I recently wrapped up several weeks of research for project #3, and have now begun writing that one. It's also sci-fi, and will deeply explore some of our oldest questions -- the nature of man, God and the Universe (one of my favorite themes) – while also telling what I hope will be a gripping horror tale, and taking you on a type of voyage you haven't read about before or seen in a movie or on Star Trek. I expect to finish that one in a couple or three months. Watch this space! Meanwhile, please please PLEASE keep that feedback coming! And if you like what you read, spread the word! Reader reviews and recommendations are critically important for new authors like me who are struggling to get known. I also love to hear from readers in person. Below are three points of contact plus links to my two novels (and remember, you can read the first few pages for free even without a Kindle).

Happy holidays!
Forrest Carr
Writer and recovering journalist

A Journal of the Crazy Year (sci-fi/zombie/post-apocalyptic/romance)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FY3GFDE

Messages (general fiction/mystery/humor)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ECK0DBK

Facebook author page (please "like"!!!)
http://www.facebook.com/forrestcarrau...

Website
www.forrestcarr.com

Email
forrestcarr99@gmail.com

Musings about Strange Coincidences

Musings about Strange Coincidences

Three very strange coincidences happened to me over the holiday weekend. All three were quite remarkable.

Past experience has taught me to pay attention to such things. Throughout my life, every few months I experience incidents ranging from striking “coincidences” to mild flashes of – well, let’s just call them “flashes” and leave it at that for the moment. Most of these incidents probably do have mundane explanations. But some can’t be explained away so easily. All three of this weekend’s incidents fall into the former category, not the latter, but they’re damned interesting just the same. Here they are:

One
On Friday morning I checked up on the comet ISON, wanting to see if it had survived its passage around the sun. I’m curious about ISON because it plays a role in my post-apocalyptic/zombie novel A Journal of the Crazy Year (a fact I’ve been promoting relentlessly to anyone who’ll listen). So imagine my astonishment to read a headline on CNN proclaiming ISON to be “The Zombie Comet.” What??? As it turns out, it got that unofficial name because scientists had pronounced the comet dead on the previous day – and then a large piece of it emerged from behind the sun anyway, in apparent defiance of that pronouncement. (On Monday it was declared dead again, by the way, after the surviving chunk melted away). So the meaning of the headline really didn’t reflect ISON’s role in the novel. But still – “The Zombie Comet?” REALLY? Yes, really. In my novel, ISON and an entirely fictional comet that comes along after it are suspected (by some) of having a connection to the world-wide pandemic at the heart of the story. So to me, ISON already was the “Zombie Comet” and had been so for many months.

Two
That same day (the Friday after Thanksgiving) I was doing some research on Scottish customs, in preparation for a novel in which one of the key characters will be of Scottish descent. The next to last article I read contained a reference to Glasgow. The last thing I looked up was a discussion about Scottish drinking toasts. That done, with visions of happy Glasgow pub patrons dancing in my head, I left the page and pulled up CNN.com to check the news. Imagine my surprise to find this headline staring at me from the top of the page: “Helicopter crashes into pub. ‘It’s terrible here in Glasgow,’ lawmaker tweets.” For the second time that day, I found myself gaping at a computer screen in astonishment.

Three
I had a dream two nights ago about someone who was once very dear to me, but whom I haven’t seen in many years. The circumstances of the dream made me wonder if that person is OK. I then contacted a mutual acquaintance and learned that the person in question is now recuperating from major surgery.

I’ve learned to pay attention to such coincidences over the years. In particular, I’ve found that dreams often can be very “coincidental.” A few years ago I had a dream about a friend whom I had not seen in about a decade. Because of the dream, I gave my friend a call (with whom I had not spoken in some time) and learned he was going to be in a particular city traveling on business. Incredibly, I was also about to make a trip, and would be in that very same city on the very same day. At the time, the two of us lived hundreds of miles apart, and our homes were hundreds of miles from the city in question. As a result of contacting him (which I did entirely because of the dream) we got to see each other for the first time in years. We rekindled our friendship and have kept in contact since.

I’m tempted to say that remarkable coincidences like these happen to me “all the time.” They don’t. But when they do happen, they can be quite memorable. On occasion they’re more than that. They’re downright chilling.

One day several years ago, I stumbled out of bed and, with my sleepy eyes half open, plodded down the driveway to get the morning paper. My groggy mind was still filled with images of the dream I’d been having just before the alarm had awakened me. The dream involved a helicopter crash. In fact, the last image that appeared in my dream, just before the alarm went off, was the front page of a newspaper with a headline proclaiming the crash, below which was a picture of the downed chopper.

With this image still on my mental computer screen, I bent down and picked up the newspaper. Focusing on it, I saw that across the top was a headline proclaiming a helicopter crash. Below the headline was a picture of the downed chopper. It seems that the night before, a medical helicopter had gone down hard in an emergency landing, and only the quick actions of the pilot had saved everyone from disaster.

But wait. There’s more. About two hours later, shortly after I arrived at work, I got a call from an acquaintance of mine who lived on the opposite coast. She’d heard something about a chopper crash in my city, and wanted to know if I knew anything about it. Boy, did I! The nature of her curiosity? Her former husband was employed as a medical helicopter pilot, and she was worried the crash might have involved his chopper. Guess what? It had. It was his bird that had gone down – and his quick actions that had saved everyone. I assured her he was OK.

But wait. There’s still more. While she had me on the phone, she was curious to know if I was acquainted with a certain person who had just applied for a job at her place of business (I won’t bore you with the details, but suffice it to say that at the time, the three of us were working in the same industry, but we lived in different cities). Oh, yes, I knew the person applying for the job at her company. He was a good friend of mine, and had worked with me in the same capacity. I gave him a stellar reference, and he later landed the job. He still works there today (and we remain good friends).

It’s all quite remarkable. But these strange little coincidences and psychic flashes – if that’s what they are – usually are of no practical value. I have found no way to distinguish, in advance, between a thought or a dream that may have precognitive value and one that doesn’t. The only way to tell, at least for me, is after the fact. However, twice in my life such “flashes” have indeed proved useful in advance. On both occasions, I suddenly had a feeling that the vehicle driving in the lane directly to my right was about to have a blowout. On both occasions, I dropped back. And on both occasions, the vehicle in question immediately did experience a blowout, and veered into the spot I had just vacated. On one of the two occasions, the car veered so violently that it continued on across the lane (where my car had been), smacked the guard rail, spun out, and wrecked. I had pulled far enough back to avoid being hit, and subsequently was able to stop and render assistance (the driver was OK).

But, yes, to the skeptics I will admit that there have been at least two other occasions when I pulled back for similar reasons, only to watch the vehicle I was worried about sail serenely onward, with no blowout. This brings me back to my point. If there is such a thing as a “psychic flash,” how do you recognize it as such in time to act on it? How do you distinguish it from all the other random thoughts and images that are always flitting about the brain?

I don’t know. But such things have happened to me often enough that it’s led me to do some research over the years. I’ve learned that many millions of people experience such flashes and such “feelings” about people they know. For a handful of them, it happens quite often. For some, the experiences are far more vivid and dramatic than anything that’s happened to me personally. One of the definitive books on precognitive or extra-sensory communication is called “Phantasms of the Living,” and was written by researcher and psychologist Edmund Gurney all the way back in the 19th century. In fact, such experiences seem to be much more common to the human experience than ghost stories, which get more press. My personal belief? Not all such experiences can be explained away as coincidental or imaginary. Beyond that, I have no answers, but I do have this observation: the human spirit is far more complicated, and far more powerful, than current science acknowledges.

If you’re reading this and have had similar experiences, please drop me a line. I may collect them all into a book someday.

Forrest Carr
Writer and recovering journalist
Forrestcarr.com
forrescarr99@gmail.com

From 6 to 56

Morning had already given way to early afternoon when the wooden PA speaker box affixed to the wall above the classroom doorway crackled to life. The school principal, speaking with a sadness in her voice that we hadn't heard before, told us that someone very important had been shot. After the announcement, our teacher led me and my first grade classmates in an Our Father and a Hail Mary for John F. Kennedy.

Our voices joined those of millions of other school children offering up prayers for the president that day. They say God listens with special attentiveness to the prayers of children. I believe that is true. But He doesn't always do precisely what we ask. Instead, He acts according to His own wisdom.

School ended early. Home I went, confused about what was happening. The adults in my life were moody and emotional. My mother seemed frightened and angry at the same time. I don't know how my father felt. At the time, the only thing my six year old mind knew about John Kennedy was that every time he made a speech, my father yelled at our black-and-white Zenith Space Command TV. But now Dad was very quiet.

The next morning, as I always did on Saturdays, I bounded out of bed early to sit in front of the television and stare at the test pattern (note to the younger set: look it up), eagerly awaiting the advent of Deputy Dawg and Quick Draw McGraw and Bullwinkle. But those familiar friends abandoned me on this Saturday. In their place were somber looking people talking in sad, serious tones. It went on and on and on. On Sunday, more of the same. Later there was some excitement about someone else, a man named Oswald, getting shot.

I remember quite clearly watching television pictures of a horse-drawn caisson rolling through the streets of Washington, carrying a coffin draped with an American flag. But it wasn't until I saw the riderless horse with boots reversed in the stirrups that it began to dawn on me that something really out of the ordinary had taken place. I knew about horses, having seen them many times on television. Western heroes rode tall in the saddle, leaned forward into the danger, and never died. So why was this horse without a rider? What had happened to its hero? This wasn't right. Didn't the good guys always win?

It was in this fashion that history reached into the comfortable, cozy cocoon of my home and rocked my little child's world. It had never occurred to me that the adults surrounding me were not in full control of things. The revelation to the contrary was profoundly troubling. I didn't understand what was happening.

Now I'm 56 years old, and I still don't.

We Americans are a complex people. The part of our national character we like to speak about is the part that's honorable, courageous, and caring. It's very real. Our country serves as an inspiration to the world and a beacon of hope to the weary masses for a reason. Randy Newman once wrote that America is the best dream man has ever dreamed, and he was exactly right.

But a dream is not reality. To make any dream come true requires hard work, tough choices, and sacrifice. I think JFK was at his best when he said that we should ask not what our country can do for us, but rather what we can do for our country. And I think Americans are at their best when they act with that philosophy in mind. But "sacrifice" is a word you don't hear much anymore, at least not in any positive context.

The 60's were a time when dreamers loomed large on the national stage. Visionaries are not very practical people. In the short term their plans often jump the rails, sometimes with spectacular and tragic results. Yet it can be argued that all human progress over the long term comes about because of the hearts that dreamers inspire, the passions they enkindle and the actions they invigorate.

My mind often flies back to the memory of that wooden PA box hanging above the classroom door that dark day in 1963. Although I certainly didn't know it at the time, when the speaker blared with that awful announcement, it marked a dramatic point of change in my life, and in the life of our nation. A dreamer had died. Did the dream die with him?

I don't know whether that question has an answer yet. But I know it will have an answer. History always renders its judgment. What will that judgment be? And is it too late to affect the outcome?

Today that is a question worthy of reflection.

Forrest Carr
(Writer and recovering journalist)

Two new "Messages" reviews

-- "The character development is amazing. The story is not predictable. The surprise ending is one you’ll never figure out. Among the thousands of choices available, I would encourage anyone to buy and read Messages."

Two new reader reviews for "Messages" are in on Amazon.com, and both are stellar. I've posted both of them below in their entirety. Many thanks to those who have read one or both of my novels and have taken the time to share their feedback! In this day and age when so many people are self-publishing, such reviews are critically important for success (more on that in a future blog post).
-- Forrest Carr

"I can’t say I’m surprised that Forrest Carr wrote such a fascinating book. He’s a supremely versatile talent. Throughout his career in local TV news, Forrest has built one success after another. Add Messages to the list. The book is entertaining, wickedly funny, and an all around great read. I would have read it in one sitting if my wife hadn’t demanded her iPad back. The setting for this mystery is a local television newsroom. For anyone who has worked in television news that’s an obvious reason to read it. What’s best, though, is that everyone will enjoy this book. Forrest’s description of conduct and conflict in the newsroom will seem too outrageous to be true, but believe me, it’s dead on accurate. The character development is amazing. The story is not predictable. The surprise ending is one you’ll never figure out. Among the thousands of choices available, I would encourage anyone to buy and read Messages."
-- Reader review on Amazon.com

"Having worked closely with TV news departments for 40 years I really enjoyed this book. Only someone with the knowledge of the news business and its culture could write a book like this, the good, the bad and definitely the ugly. I even managed a few chuckles here and there. Plus as an added bonus it had murder mysteries sprinkled throughout. Well done Forrest."
-- Reader review on Amazon.com

(Messages is available for the Kindle and Kindle apps here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ECK0DBK)