Oregon Lawmakers Pass Bill To Abolish State Corp. That Ran Failed Health Marketplace
The measure, which now goes to the governor, would dissolve the independent corporation that has been running Cover Oregon -- the failed state health insurance exchange -- and move its operations into the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services. Meanwhile, legal issues between the exchange and Oracle America, its developer, continue. News outlets also report on developments related to exchanges in Rhode Island and Tennessee.
The Associated Press:
Covering Cover Oregon's Bills Won't End With Dissolution
A bill dissolving the independent corporation that runs Cover Oregon is on its way to Gov. Kate Brown. The agency has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a health exchange that failed — with 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 2013. (Wozniacka, 3/1)
The Oregonian:
Bill To Abolish Cover Oregon And Move Functions To State Agency Heads To Governor's Desk
The state House voted Friday to abolish Cover Oregon, the troubled independent agency that had been unable to deliver a working health-care exchange. On a 42-14 vote, the House sent Gov. Kate Brown a measure that would jettison Cover Oregon and fold the operations of the agency into the state Department of Consumer and Business Services. (Mapes, 2/27)
Reuters:
Oracle Sues Oregon Officials In Health Care Website Dispute
Oracle America Inc, the software giant in charge of developing Oregon's failed health exchange website, has filed suit against five former staff and campaign advisers to the state's former governor, saying they worked behind the scenes to kill the site for political reasons, court documents showed. (Seben, 2/27)
The Associated Press:
Lawmakers Weigh Future Of State's Health Insurance Exchange
The new director of Rhode Island's health insurance exchange is making a case for keeping the state-run marketplace as some lawmakers are calling for its demise. Director Anya Rader Wallack says Rhode Island can use the state exchange as a tool to innovate and control health care costs in ways it couldn't if it switched. (3/1)
The Associated Press:
Bid To Block Health Exchange In Tennessee Seen As 'Overkill'
Some Republican lawmakers still reveling in the recent defeat of a proposal to expand Medicaid to 280,000 low-income Tennesseans are now setting their sights on 230,000 people enrolled through the federal health insurance exchange. State Sen. Brian Kelsey's latest proposal would ban Tennessee from creating a state-run exchange should the Supreme Court rule that the federal government can't pay subsidies in states that declined to set up their own insurance markets. Oral arguments in that case are scheduled for March 4. (Schelzig, 2/28)
