Horror Stories of ObamaCare: State Exchanges

A growing number of state legislatures have confessed that their attempts to create statewide health care exchanges have failed, and now desire to return the responsibility to the federal government. Limited government advocates may fear that the states are giving up their power. On the other hand, the whole insurance exchange folly was a federal mandate which has done nothing but push the limits of what the federal government should be doing in the first place.

Despite the most desperate pleadings of progressives, the United States Constitution exists as an instrument of law which binds the federal government to a clear set of enumerated, delineated powers. If the Constitution were a living, as in easily transformative document, then the Framers would have never framed such a document in the first place. Nor would they have accommodated a Bill of Rights, an invention and instigation from the several states which automatically recognized that more concentrated power could cause more trouble than the states or their citizens were willing to tolerate. The several states are laboratories for good or bad ideas. Not just Massachusetts, but also Tennessee experimented with statewide health insurance coverage by tax and bureaucrat. The measure created cost overruns in both states. Now, regarding the ObamaCare exchanges. . .

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Cover Oregon

Oregon has spent $200 million on Cover Oregon. Only so much good money can go after bad and "cover" for the failures of a failing system. The state has fired the second administrator for the site, as well. How many people have they managed to cover? Nobody! The Democratic Governor is appalled and frustrated, while Oregon GOP, along with four US Senate candidates, are rearing up to take back the Beaver State. The media frenzy has established the legacy for this state exchange: one big joke. Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber (D) released a blistering report about Cover Oregon's numerous failures, yet refused to cover questionsrelating to corruption.

Maryland Health Connection

Then there's Maryland, which had one-party Democratic rule long before other states drifted left. The progressive taint of the state stretches as far as San Francisco liberal, Nancy Pelosi, who was the daughter of a Democratic Congressman who later ran Baltimore, Maryland, as mayor. And who can forget RINO Constance Morello, who ran as a Republican because she could not win against an incumbent Democrat in a primary, During his first term, the current (of course, Democratic) Governor, Martin O'Malley wanted to surpass the Obama Administration in the implementation of left-wing policies, and so Maryland jumped head-first into setting up its own state health insurance exchange in accordance with the "Affordable" Care Act. Just one problem: the legislation has proven to be anything but affordable, and in spite of their most liberal efforts and over $100 million, the Maryland exchange, Maryland Health Connection, has failed beyond repair. The state's exchange commission is seeking out the computer systems in the Connecticut exchange to start over. O'Malley still tried to paint a ruby red coat of paint on the dilapidated jalopy:

"We still have stuck applications. We still wrestle with it every day," O'Malley said at a news conference. "The clock was ticking, and we have been changing the flat tires on this rolling car for the last five, going on six months now. And it has gotten better with every new fix applied to it, [but it is] still not working as it was supposed to work."

It was getting better, yet the state officials cannot get the website to work, i.e. it was never better to begin with. Of course, O'Malley and his irrepressible liberal caucus never let something like semantics or truth impede explaining their failed policies. Was it not President Obama who asserted over and over: "If you like your health care, you can keep it"?

Access Health CT

And how about that Connecticut health care exchange, Access Health CT? Has it worked any better? Connecticut wants more money to expand. The Massachusetts state health care exchange is also on life-support, with rising costs (now the highest in the country). I spoke with a state assemblyman, who shared not only facts and figures relating to website malfunctions, but also cost overruns, He shared individual accounts, as did one of his constituents directly.

Health Source RI

And in Rhode Island, both Democrats and Republicans want to end throwing what little good state revenues remain after a bad health insurance exchange, Health Source RI, which has not attracted nearly enough young people. I interviewed lawmakers, a private benefits manager, and a psychiatric administrator for one of the health insurance companies in Rhode Island, and they all had one story to tell: the state health care exchange is too costly. Instead of wasting state dollars on the bloated and costly system, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want to block any state funds from bolstering the failed system. The state exchanges have gone bust in many states, with Vermont teetering on the brink because of their progressive overachieving. Not just individuals, patients, and doctors are caring less for ObamaCare, but entire states are finding this law to be a lawless (not flawless) waste of time, energy, and money.