Oregon exchange lags

In other words, Oregon had everything going for it.

But its exchange, known as Cover Oregon, became a victim of its own lofty ambitions and the state’s stubborn refusal to dial them back until it was too late.

While exchanges in many states are telling applicants who appear to qualify for Medicaid to contact a separate agency, Oregon insists its exchange must be a “one-stop shop” for both Medicaid and private insurance. The state also wants its exchange to eventually be able to help enroll people in a wide array of public-assistance programs, not just health care.

Exchange leaders stuck with their plan even as risk consultants warned repeatedly that they were in danger of missing the Oct. 1 deadline to launch.

“We won’t know whether we made the right decisions until our system is up and running,” said Amy Fauver, chief communications officer for Cover Oregon. “But we’re going forward in the way we feel we can best serve Oregonians.”

Exchange officials say they haven’t fully launched their website because their software still can’t accurately determine whether applicants are eligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, particularly for people with complex family arrangements.

Kitzhaber, a Democrat, has pledged that the problems won’t “interfere with our objective of making sure that every Oregonian that wants to be enrolled” by the start of the new year “is, in fact, enrolled.”

Oregon does have one big success to brag about. The state has enrolled 70,000 people in Medicaid, reducing the ranks of the uninsured by more than 10 percent. The large number of Medicaid enrollments came in large part thanks to a “fast-track” enrollment process approved by the Obama administration. Using income data already on file, the state mailed a simple seven-question Medicaid enrollment form to people in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program who qualify for health coverage under the federal health law’s expansion of Medicaid.

Pressure is growing on exchange officials to fix the problems. U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, a moderate Democrat who took heat after voting for the health care law, released a sharply worded statement on Friday demanding that the exchange and its main contractor, Oracle, make it work.

“The implementation of Oregon’s health insurance marketplace has been abysmal,” Schrader said. “The current situation is completely unacceptable, and I expect much more from a state with a reputation for being an innovator in the field of health care.”

See also:

• Oregon exchange day 2: Brokers to the rescue
• Exchange field report: Oregon, Puerto Rico, New Jersey
• Oregon exchange puts folk singers on TV