I want to share some thoughts about Cover Oregon, or the insurance exchange...

We were one of five states granted federal dollars ($48 million) to develop the technology. The agreement was we would then share what we had developed with other states, which is a reasonable approach. The warning that immediately went up is the fact the State of Oregon has a miserable track record when it comes to IT development. In this case, even though much of the work was contracted out to a company called Oracle, we have held true to our record of failure. We have been assured all of the problems can be fixed, and maybe that is true over time, but here we are with a non-functioning web site and 400 new government employees to do manual processing....

The federal government also gave Oregon nearly 250 million dollars to operate the exchange for two years. Another pot of federal money in play is the subsidies for people buying insurance in the exchange. It is on a graduated scale, but everyone up to 400% of the federal poverty level (for a family of four that is an income of $90,000) can get federal dollars to help pay their premiums. This will, to a degree, offset the premium increases, but only short term. In two years the operational funds as well as the subsidies are scheduled to go away.

most keyboards have little tits on the F and J so you know where your hands are