Saerom Yoo

Statesman Journal

Oregon legislators from both parties are adding their voices to the growing movement to shut down Cover Oregon, the stillborn state health care exchange that was never able to deliver on its promise as a one-stop shop for private health insurance.

While both sides are agreeing on Cover Oregon's fate, they have different visions for how it should be done. In addition, Republicans are not missing the opportunity to point fingers at the Democrats.

House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, said in a statement Monday that Cover Oregon should close its doors.

"The ongoing missteps and lack of accountability from Cover Oregon and their private contractors have made it clear it's time for the organization to shut down," she said.

Cover Oregon was supposed to open in October with a website that allows consumers to apply for and obtain private health insurance as well as sign up for Medicaid. Instead, technical delays and conflicts forced the state to hire hundreds of temporary workers to process applications manually, and while hundreds of thousands have obtained coverage, Cover Oregon is still trying to clean up its errors.

Hundreds of Oregonians were mistakenly enrolled in the Oregon Health Plan, while others who were eligible for the program for low-income people were not. And miscalculations with tax credits for commercial enrollees could mean they would owe some of it back come tax time.

Kotek called for solutions to protect people from the consequences of Cover Oregon's mistakes, and asked Cover Oregon to provide detailed data on the scope of the problem.

Cover Oregon's executive director Aaron Patnode said Monday that a team was working on the issue.

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Lorey Freeman, senior deputy legislative counsel, said that because Cover Oregon was created with legislation, legislative action is required to dissolve it. The Board of Directors is expected to make their decision on Cover Oregon's future, but it would only be a recommendation.

Over the weekend, Republican legislators called for a special session to dissolve Cover Oregon.

Sens. Alan Olsen, R-Canby, Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, and Betsy Close, R-Albany, issued statements on Saturday. Ferrioli said waiting for the 2015 legislative session was not soon enough.

On Friday, Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, and Gov. John Kitzhaber both called for the dissolution of Cover Oregon. Courtney said he planned to introduce legislation next year to close Cover Oregon and transfer its duties to Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Insurance Division.

However, Courtney said Monday that "rushing into special session would be a reckless mistake."

Kitzhaber agreed.

"Those now calling for a special session to dissolve Cover Oregon immediately would expose taxpayers and Oregonians needing health coverage to unacceptable and unnecessary risk and expense," he said in a statement. "It undermines our primary goal, which is covering more Oregonians with health care this November. I support dissolving Cover Oregon and have proposed a responsible timeline to get it done. I agree with Senator Courtney and Speaker Kotek that the appropriate time to do that is in the 2015 regular session."

Cover Oregon's duties have waned since the federal government has stepped in to take care of most of them. Starting this fall, Oregonians looking for individual plans will be shopping at HealthCare.gov. Low-income Oregonians will also likely sign up through the federal portal, with the exception of special cases who will be routed to Oregon Health Authority directly.

House Republican Leader Mike McLane said in a statement that Democrats rejected Republicans' legislation that would've created better oversight and transparency in the most recent session.

"Had Democrats in Salem been as concerned then as they now appear to be during campaign season, we could've had some answers or prevented some of these problems stemming from the failure of Cover Oregon," he said.

syoo@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6673 or follow at Twitter.com/syoo.