To date, the state has received just 4,260 paper applications as part of their new Obamacare exchange, but Cover Oregon website still can’t tell people what subsidies they are eligible to receive.
Oregon has an estimated 600,000 uninsured, though officials say about 200,000 are expected to sign up through 2014.
Concerns are mounting that some of the most vulnerable Oregonians may face a break in coverage if they don’t enroll within the next month and a half.
Though Cover Oregon officials say they’re working to resolve the problems, they declined to name a date when they expect the website will be functional and they could not explain how they plan to enroll thousands of people within a short time span.
The situation is most dire for about 11,000 Oregonians who are part of the state’s high-risk insurance pool – a program for those rejected by private insurance carriers because of pre-existing conditions such as cancer, diabetes, or severe heart conditions.
The high-risk pool was a state program which will end on New Year’s Eve thanks to Obamacare.
Its not that the state hasn’t tried to enroll more people. In the middle of July they launched an ad campaign:
The reforms are complicated and controversial. But you wouldn’t know it from the first wave of the Oregon-centric ad campaign, which features snappy jingles, simple messages and feel-good artwork at a cost of $2.9 million.
That was just the first wave of wasted tax dollars:
The TV and radio spots feature the slogan “Long Live Oregonians,” and performances by popular Oregon artists like folksinger Laura Gibson, mariachi folksinger Edna Vazquez, the hip-hop group Livesavas, and Matt Sheehy of bands like Lost Lander and Ramona Falls
The ad spots were prepared by the Portland agency North, working with the public relations firm Metropolitan Group, which together share a $9.9 million Cover Oregon contract.
Obviously it didn’t help as the Oregon has enrolled the same number of people for their exchange during the past month as has this blog (without the $9.9 million).
Thank you Oregon, for teaching us that Obamacare can be a budget buster in the local basis as well as nationally.
UPDATE: The President didn’t let the bad numbers stop him from lying about Oregon. H/T Weasel Zippers
Obama: “Oregon has covered 10% of its uninsured citizens already…Arkansas has covered almost 14% of its uninsured.” #Obamacare
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 30, 2013
