Amid the complete failure of the federal ObamaCare health exchange, may commentators have pointed to the 14 state-run exchanges as examples of functioning websites where people can buy insurance. While the state exchanges have had more success than the federal site, this is grading on a steep curve. The executive director of “Cover Oregon,” which had been in the vanguard of state-run exchanges, admitted to lawmakers this week that the site wouldn’t be ready until after the deadline to receive coverage.
Rocky King, executive director of the agency tasked with implementing ObamaCare, told state lawmakers on Wednesday that the state exchange website wouldn’t be ready to accept enrollments until December 16th, one day after the deadline to have coverage in place by January 1st. To date, no individuals have been able to get coverage through the “Cover Oregon” website.
Oregon’s campaign to promote ObamaCare has received some national attention, due to its fairly trippy ads promoting the program. Actually, the term “ad” isn’t quite right. The state’s promotions are more like psychedelic thought experiments. Like most leftist entities, Oregon took care of the arty “cool” stuff and forgot to handle the basics.
Oregon is a very left-of-center state, populated by people who believe silly things. The state actually conducts all its elections by mail, so residents don’t have to be inconvenienced by going to a polling place. Only someone in Oregon could explain how this builds up a sense of civic engagement.
Oregon’s failure to launch its own website for ObamaCare is evidence of deeper problems with the program. The state is running its own exchange, is supportive of the law and boasts a populace that is predisposed to support the program. Yet, the site won’t be ready on time.
Psychedelic ads are fun, but at the end of the day, things need to work. ObamaCare is not working in Oregon.
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