Cover Oregon on Life Support
Following MD, Oregon’s exchange in doubt.
Last week we reported that Maryland’s ObamaCare exchange is so flawed that officials are ditching the current system and implementing technology from Connecticut’s marketplace. Now it appears the fate of Cover Oregon is in question. The Oregonian reports, “The Cover Oregon health insurance exchange is so bug-ridden and far from completion that it would take nearly two more years and more than $40 million to finish if the state sticks with its original plan using technology developed by Oracle Corp, according to a consultant’s report.” That said, officials are mulling a supposedly cheaper solution that would involve implementing portions of the federal exchange, though state administrators haven’t yet made a decision. Regardless, partnering with Healthcare.gov is hardly a viable fix (can you say disastrous rollout?), and it creates legal concerns pertaining to the availability of federal subsidies (an appeals court has yet to rule on Halbig v. Sebelius.) Additionally, any change now will only further hurt Democrats up for re-election.