The Obamacare Files: The Online Hunt for Info on Health Law

What folks are looking for online and how they're looking for it is a subject of endless interest. To us, at least. For instance, we at KQED know that people are searching for information on the new federal health-care law (the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare). We know because there's been a consistently high demand for our guide on how the new law works in California, Obamacare Explained. It's not really a surprise that we're just seeing a slice of what's going on everywhere.

Here are lists from Yahoo! and Google on Obamacare searches this week:

From Yahoo!

1. [what is obamacare]
2. [what are the obamacare facts]
3. [what is obamacare exactly]
4. [how to sign up for obamacare]
5. [how much will obamacare cost me]
6. [is congress exempt from obamacare]
7. [who is exempt from obamacare]
8. [where to sign up for obamacare]
9. [why is obamacare bad]
10. [how to enroll in obamacare]
11. [how does obamacare work]
12. [what does obamacare mean]
13. [when does obamacare take effect]
14. [who has to sign up for obamacare]
15. [how will obamacare effect medicare]

From Google, a slightly different list: trending searches in the Bay Area this week. This makes it clear that there's something else on people's minds this week besides health care:

1. government shutdown
2. obama care california
3. covered california
4. yosemite national park
5. government shutdown 1995
6. obama care chip
7. why government shutdown
8. affordable care act
9. what is obamacare
10. furlough

And one last list: From Yahoo!, a list of states searching the most for "Obamacare" this week:

1. Georgia
2. Tennessee
3. Florida
4. Texas
5. Alabama
6. New Jersey
7. Kentucky
8. Mississippi
9. North Carolina
10. Arkansas