Oregon’s ObamaCare Exchange Might Be Worse Than HealthCare.Gov

According to NPR, the state of Oregon has not had a single person enroll in a health insurance through its ObamaCare exchange.

In fact, officials there have abandoned the website altogether until it reaches even basic functionality, and are sorting through paper applications.

As impossible as it seems for a site to rival HealthCare.gov in glitches, Oregon’s state ObamaCare exchange may be doing it.

If you recall, Oregon’s exchange was the one that spent $3.2 million in taxpayer money on a commercial featuring flying guitars and a farmer riding a carrot. At the time, we questioned why the ad didn’t explain anything about the actual exchange. Now we know why.

From NPR:

As the federal government consumes humble pie over failures in the health insurance exchanges, some states that have set up their own exchanges are also struggling. Oregon has yet to enroll one single person, and it’s been reduced to pawing through paper applications to figure out eligibility.

When Cover Oregon opened Oct. 1, executive director Rocky King was excited. He’d been preparing for years. “Day one, we are accepting applications. And staff at the Oregon Health Authority and Cover Oregon are ready to process those applications,” he said on opening day.

Back then, King conceded there were still glitches with the website, but he said that by mid-to-late October they’d be worked out. Now it’s November, and it’s clear that a quick fix is not in the cards. So Cover Oregon has turned to old-fashioned paper applications. People can either download one off the website, or have somebody walk them through it.