From the Everett, WA Herald:
As Cover Oregon dissolves, it leaves behind costly legacy
A bill dissolving the independent corporation that runs Cover Oregon is on its way to the Gov. Kate Brown. But even when it is gone, Cover Oregon will leave a legacy of hundreds of millions of dollars spent on a health exchange that failed — with even more millions in legal fees and other expenses still to come.
Cover Oregon spent $300 million in federal funds, much of it to have Oracle America Inc. build an exchange for Oregonians to buy health insurance. The health exchange web portal failed to launch in October 2013.
The state spent at least $26 million of its own money on Cover Oregon-related projects.
Last spring, Oregon scrapped the web portal and switched to HealthCare.Gov, a federally run website. Cover Oregon continued to perform functions such as interacting between insurance companies and insurance buyers. Now those tasks will be folded into other agencies.
Here is a breakdown of how much money has been spent as a result of the Cover Oregon fiasco, by whom, and expenses still to come.
Money that was completely wasted - plans made with no oversight and nothing of value remaining to salvage. Government a its finest. No accountability. No heads will roll - at best, someone will resign and then quietly be installed in a higher paying position six months later.
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