Gitzo Loc: Indiana

Oregon Taxpayers 'Stuck' With Bill From Failed Obamacare Website

Friday, 25 Apr 2014 07:04 PM Article By; / Todd Beamon


Republicans slammed the taxpayer waste from scrapping Oregon's $303 million, problem-plagued Obamacare health exchange on Friday, citing it as yet another example of why the healthcare law should be repealed.

"Once again, Obamacare causes chaos and confusion for Oregonians," Rep. Greg Walden, the state's only GOP member of Congress, said in a statement. "Today, the same board that oversaw the colossal waste at Cover Oregon voted to throw in the towel, and taxpayers are left stuck with the bill.

"The board should explain further to the taxpayers of Oregon and the nation how exactly this massive failure happened."

Jahan Wilcox, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said: "It's remarkable that Cover Oregon was such a disaster that moving into the troubled HealthCare.gov is considered an improvement."

He also referenced U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley's support of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The Oregon Democrat, who has since distanced himself from the beleaguered law, is seeking re-election this fall.

"Oregonians can give themselves a real upgrade by firing Sen. Jeff Merkley, whose deciding vote for Obamacare resulted in the creation of Cover Oregon," Wilcox said.

The board overseeing the state's Obamacare program, Cover Oregon, on Friday accepted an advisory committee's recommendation to ditch its troubled portal after spending months and millions of dollars on trying to get it to work. Oregon instead will use HealthCare.gov for private policies.

According to Cover Oregon officials, fixing the troubled portal would have cost $78 million and would have taken too long. Using HealthCare.gov, which has had its own share of glitches and problems since the Obamacare rollout, would cost just $4 million to $6 million.

"I don't know that anyone in the room is excited about going down this path," Liz Baxter, who chairs the Cover Oregon board, said in a report in The Oregonian. "But I think it's the only option."

In more than a dozen states that opted to create their own exchanges, Oregon's was seen as the most dysfunctional. It was plagued by technical problems so severe that almost all the 50,000 people who signed up for insurance through the exchange did so using paper applications or with help from a professional.

Right up to the end, Oregonians were not able to use the website to sign up for coverage in one sitting.

Oregon residents instead had to use an arduous paper-online process to sign up for insurance — despite the $134 million the state paid Oracle Corp. to build the online exchange. Oregon received a monthlong enrollment-deadline extension because of the technology problems.

The state enthusiastically embraced Obamacare, and the website had been a pioneer for state marketplaces.

And even though several other states have had major problems with their Obamacare exchanges, only Oregon has voted to scrap it entirely. Maryland recently decided to adopt the technology used on Connecticut's successful exchange.

In March, the Government Accountability Office in Washington said that it would investigate the Oregon exchange, including looking at whether the federal government can reclaim grant money given to Cover Oregon if taxpayer funds were mismanaged.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said they were working with Oregon on the next steps in the effort.

Meanwhile, an independent investigation ordered by Gov. John Kitzhaber found state managers repeatedly disregarded reports about technical problems that prevented the Cover Oregon exchange from launching when the Obamacare individual mandate took effect in October.

It also found that Oracle did a poor job in building the exchange's technology. Five Oregon officials connected to website's development have resigned.

Kitzhaber said communications about the portal's troubles never reached him as the Oct. 1 launch neared. The governor said he agreed with the technology advisory committee's recommendation to scrap the website.

State officials said they would keep the Cover Oregon website, redesigning it to direct people to HealthCare.gov. Oregon also will use the federal call center, but it will retain some customer outreach, education efforts and initial carrier management.

Because HealthCare.gov enrolls people only in private health plans, Oregonians who are declared eligible for the Medicaid program for low-income Americans will be redirected to the Oregon Health Authority.

That agency can enroll them in the Oregon Health Plan, Oregon's version of Medicaid.

So far, about 242,000 Oregonians have enrolled in coverage through Cover Oregon. About 70,000 are in private plans, while 172,000 are enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan.


Related Stories:
Once a Leader, Oregon Insurance Exchange Struggles

Republicans Probe 3 States With Failing Obamacare Exchanges
End of article


Comments;
In spite of stories like this coming out every day, the ignorant libs keep right on insisting that Obamacare is a "great thing"!

It sure looks like it was a "great thing" for Larry Ellison's Oracle Corp., which scored $134 million to "build" what didn't work, and was then thrown into a dumpster! And libs still can't understand why other people refer to them as being, "low-information", "ignorant", and just plain STUPID!

I repeat......"You can always tell a liberal.......but you can't tell them "much"!

(At least with having any expectation of them actually understanding what you're talking about!)

OK, libs, you can start your usual rants now......(not that anyone will be paying any attention to you. )

Commander Creep & The Creepettes


Testing The Race Card Platform


Between Two Ferns

Woodie Rick

WE ARE WINNING!

WINNING!

(Download)

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

This a a typical right wing jump to conclusion. One state has issues on its web page for signing up for health insurance and the entire program should be scrapped.

hannaco Loc: People's Republic of California

What does a website have to do with the final result of insuring people? It is just a tool that failed to work as designed. A different tool will be needed to make the easy signup of citizens.
The healthcare program itself is the problem, not the website.

dljen Loc: Central PA

You're really digging for this, Gitzo. I thought you were better than this crap.

Why not write your congressmen/women and tell them how you don't want your party to appear to be stupider than they are? Geez, someone needs to tell the conservatives that they just aren't making the right choices in choosing friends. This latest Bundy crap is an example.

Gitzo Loc: Indiana

Congratulations, Woodie! Your's is the best post thus far that illustrates why sensible people refer to liberals as being "low-information", and ignorant.

That 8 million "figure" you are so excited about is almost as "meaningful" as your hero's blathering to the American people, "If you like your plan, you can KEEP your plan", and "if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor"! The only problem being........it was ALL bull shit when he said it, (and everyone now knows that HE knew it when he said it. )

That "8 million" BS is about as meaningful as all those advertisements we have been seeing for the last 50 years for a "simple device" that only costs $25 and will make your car get 200 miles per gallon of gas! Believe it or not, millions have sent in their $25, and the last time I checked, no one so far has ever achieved 200 mpg! In other words......YOU have just been sold yet another "bill of goods" by the biggest liar of this century, but you're still too ignorant to realize it!

There are about 8,000,000 things about Obozo's latest "claim" that YOU on no one else has the slightest idea about;
You have NO idea how many people signed up for anything....all you know, is what Obama is telling you! And in case you haven't noticed, Obama is NOT famous for telling the truth; conversely, he IS famous for being the biggest LIAR this country has ever seen! So go ahead and "gloat"....while every sensible person in the U.S. is laughing at your ignorance.

Gitzo Loc: Indiana

#1. "You're really digging for this, Gitzo".

You failed to mention what "this" is ?

#2. "I thought you were better than this crap"

I challenge you to document ONE WORD of that article as being untrue. "Crap"? To you.....I'll put it to you this way; I'm stating that 2+2=4 Being a lib, no doubt you'll say it's "crap", if for no other reason than because I said it; but regardless of what YOU say, it's still a "fact"! (Just like everything in this article is a "fact"! ) All of your nonsensical ranting doesn't change a thing; what's true is true, regardless of your obviously "distorted" world view.

As far as me being "better"......better that what? I don't claim to be "better", and I don't claim to be "smart"; but I think anyone looking at my "track record" would conclude that I'm not ignorant, that I'm not "stupid", and that I have been "smart enough"........smart enough that I don't drink alcohol, use any drugs, use any tobacco products, smart enough that I have never been "arrested" in my entire life, smart enough that all five of my children have college educations and are all gainfully employed, law-abiding citizens.

#3. "Geez, someone needs to tell the conservatives that they just aren't making the right choices in choosing friends"

I'm assuming that you're referring to the recent stand-off between the "government goons" and Cliven Bundy; Let me point something out to you; if you've read the comments by a man from the University of Illinois about the BLM that I posted a few days ago, you'll know 500 times as much about the BLM as 90% of the citizens of this country; I already knew a fair amount about the BLM because I have spent a lot of time in the western states, and a lot of it was on land "belonging" to the BLM; (or so they claim ); I have never met Mr. Bundy, so I'm not claiming to be an expert on him;

I can tell you one thing about Bundy that is a FACT, whether you agree with it or not is immaterial with me; almost everyone has "taken sides" in Bundy's dispute with the BLM; whether you agree with Bundy, or whether you hate Bundy, the FACT is, that Bundy has had, and will have almost zero effect on you, on me, or probably on anyone either one of us even knows; the guy everyone needs to be "concerned about", is Senate Majority Leader, Dirty Harry Reid; because unless everyone DOES keep a very close eye on Harry, you're going to be seeing a few thousand Red Chinese OWNING 9,000 acres of land in the Nevada desert, and doing "I have no idea what", but I can assure you, what ever it is, is NOT in the best interests of the U.S. OR of U.S. citizens.

If you choose to spend all of you time worrying that a 70' something rancher in Nevada that "may be a racist" because he shot his mouth off to some reporter, I'll be happy to tell you what a former Democrat POTUS once said about black people.

dljen Loc: Central PA

I stopped reading about a third of the way down and could see where this was going. You're going to beat the ACA to death, despite how ignorant you come across. Realize this...the ACA is working, people are getting healthcare who never before had it, nobody is going to give it up. Your hate obscures any understanding.

Oh, and I'll bet all 5 are terribly proud of you.

Gitzo Loc: Indiana

You may be about to exceed one of your fellow libs for the title, "lowest-information", least knowledgeable about what you're attempting to talk about, and failing miserably!
The FACT that one states website is a total failure and is costing the taxpayers $300 million for exactly "NOTHING", is NOT the reason why this "law" needs to be "repealed"; the problems outlined in this article are merely the latest in a very long list of "problems"; if YOU don't know why Obummercare needs to be "scrapped", it's only because YOU have YOUR head in a "dark hole" which is NOT a good place from which to observe "what's happening" in the world.

Gitzo Loc: Indiana

#1. You're going to beat the ACA to death, despite how ignorant you come across.

First of all, there is NOTHING about the "ACA" as you choose to call it that is "affordable"; far from it! Which is why sensible people call it what it really is.......Obozocare.....the unaffordable "care" act!

Secondly, it's YOU, not ME, who doesn't know what he's talking about! Your problem is, you believe what ever Obama tells YOU to believe.......that "millions of people don't have health insurance"; what you're too un-informed to realize is......every one of those "millions" of "poor people" are getting BETTER HEALTH CARE than YOU are!.........and it's FREE ! (at least to them it's free; )

I really don't think you have very much actual knowledge about just how "health care" works in the U.S. Obama has all of you believing that "poor people" don't get health care, which is a complete LIE !

It's isn't a "brief subject", but I'll attempt to explain it to you as "briefly" as possible;

#1. Every day, millions of people show up at hospitals having millions of "problems"; to make this more meaningful, I'll use only what I have experienced and observed personally;
Union Hospital, in Terre Haute, Indiana, and
Regional Hospital, also in Terre Haute.

I have no idea what the exact numbers are, but I'm estimating that probably 300 to 500 people show up at Union Hospital every day, with every conceivable problem; no two of these people are in the same set of circumstances, but broadly speaking, they all fall into 4 different groups;

Group A; People who work, and have health insurance'
Group B; Retired people, on Medicare, and with health ins.
Group C. Retired people, on Medicare, and no health ins.
Group D. Broadly speaking, people who have: no job, no money, no insurance, no anything, except a "health problem"

Guess who the Hospital loves to see walk in? Groups A & B!

With Group A, between the persons income and insurance, everything billed gets paid for.

Group C. The Hospital and each doctor involved bill Medicare separately; several months later, patient receives statement from medicare stating: Medicare paid: $*** Patient owes $*

I'm guessing that the Hospital and the doctors involved receive somewhat less from Group C.

Group D. This is where it gets interesting: by law, the hospital can not refuse treatment; but hospitals have HUGE costs! (Nurses make BIG $$$ nowadays; ) The patients may or may not ever even get a statement; mostly because the hospital AND the doctors already know......there is NO "blood in turnips", so they don't even bother looking for any. but they DO get paid, just the same.

From my personal experience; I "presented" myself to the ER at app; 6:00 PM, having severe irritation in left eye; I was almost immediately "looked at" by RN #1. then changed rooms, and looked at by RN #2; over next hour, # 3, 4, 5, and 6, plus MD #1; 2 1/2 hrs later, MD #1 removes 1 eye lash from left eye, squirts "stuff" in eye, I'm now fine, go home; 2 1/2 hrs total, possibly 1 hour total time being "attended to"; I'm now happy, eye is much better. 3 months later I get the statement from Medicare; total costs billed: $2,489.19; Medicare pays hospital: $1,400; patient owes $90, "Adjusted" $999.19

All of which means: the hospital and doctor got $1,490, of which I paid $90 OOP (out of pocket ), and the $999.19 is "thrown out the window", (or where ever ) (

A patient on Medicaid ? my possibly received a bill for $40, Medicaid pays the other $1,450.

It's true......many people have NO insurance!
It's completely untrue, those people have no "health CARE"

Now.......this is how "it was" before the "UCA" was fully "implemented"; then, there were only 40,000,000 people on Medicaid; now, because of "UCA", there are now 80,000,000 on Medicaid; that number is expected to ........increase "significantly" as UCA becomes "fully implemented".

What libs don't understand, (and probably don't "give a damn" ), is that the existing number of doctors and nurses are going to be "taking care of" twice as many people, many millions of which pay NOTHING, therefore run to the ER every 15 minutes for every headache, black eye, dose of clapp caught while "engaging in highly promiscuous activity", and YOU are paying for it, while at the same time, attempting to convince the whole world that Obummercare is a "great thing"! (To which I say, "you're nuts"! )

Within about 3 months after Demoncraps "get rid of" the electoral college, (IF they succeed in getting rid of it ), thus insuring that NO one BUT democRATS ever become elected to POTUS, every submission for treatment will be "reviewed" by government bureaucRATS, (who, having complete and total knowledge of "who votes for who", courtesy of NSA ), said "panels" or "committees" of bureaucRATS will make final determination of "who gets what", (if anything ).
To say that liberals are "ignorant" is to compliment them!

BTW.......Quote;nobody is going to give it up. Your hate obscures any understanding.

Guess what; a lot of people have counted their chickens before they've hatched.......the UCA DOE'S have one redeeming thing about it........it is going to get Harry Greed's ass out of his present seat in the Senate, and the GOP majority is going to toss your darling UCA in the scrap heap where it belongs! (and hopefully, all of you democRATS will be so "pissed" that you'll all move to Ethiopia, or possibly Mars! )

dljen Loc: Central PA

I glossed over this ridiculous post, again spouting more hate and venom as far as I was able to see. Your insults just put you (back) into the low info category.

Yawn.....

SBW

Time after time, your brilliant postings are overwhelming. Your intellect is nothing short of daunting. Boy, it must be nice to be you.

SBW

Gitzo, you know by now that these libs cannot and will not back up their assertions and allegations. They truly come from the school that if you tell a lie enough times then eventually it will become true. Other than that, they have nothing. Nothing.

The postings from the liberals on this site does not say much for our public education. Disappointing at best.

Past Pro Loc: Spring Hill, Florida

I wouldn't be quite so sure. . .

ole sarg Loc: south florida

No you are the low information ignorant person!

In fact you are stupid!

You are using medicare and medicade as an example. OBamacare is for folks who are not on either of these programs!

Try learning to read the law and for whom it is to cover.

As we say in the Army you are a real dumba$$