Retiring Ore. exchange official lashes out at state leaders

May 5 2014

Developments with online insurance marketplaces in Nevada, Oregon and New Mexico are also examined.

The Oregonian: Tom Jovick, Retiring Cover Oregon Manager, Writes About 'Nightmare Experience'
Tom Jovick retired this week as a Cover Oregon administrator. On his way out, he issued a stinging letter to his fellow Cover Oregon staffers condemning the state's reaction to the IT crisis and saluting the worker bees for carrying on under heavy duress. Jovick torched Gov. John Kitzhaber for throwing "the entire staff under the bus," when the scale of the technology disaster became clear and the governor sought the resignation of two Cover Oregon managers (Manning, 5/1).

The Oregonian: Cover Oregon Health Insurance Exchange's Ad Man Responds To John Oliver Riff
When comedian John Oliver made a local ad company's commercial a centerpiece of an expletive-laden riff on Oregon's move to the federal exchange, the ad company co-owner and creative director, Mark Ray, took it personally. On Sunday, Oliver said that not only had Oregon wasted $248 million on a non-working exchange, but $3 million was spent on "violently adorable" commercials. After playing a North ad featuring local singer Laura Gibson, Oliver turned up his nose in disgust and said, "Look we get it Oregon, you people live in a cartoon. On Wednesday Ray posted a response ... wondering whether it was "unjust" or "unfair" to his company that so many commentators have linked to the company's ads (Budnick, 5/1).

The Wall Street Journal's CIO Journal: Xerox CIO Fixing Nevada Health Exchange, As Tough Decisions Loom
Xerox Corp. CIO Stephen Little is working with the state of Nevada as it tries to fix its technically-troubled state health exchange. Xerox, which has a $75 million contract with the state to build Nevada Health Link, dispatched Mr. Little and 250 engineers to Nevada in February to address more than 1,500 site defects (Boulton, 5/1). 

Fox News: Money Pit: Officials Struggling To Fix State ObamaCare Exchanges
As the Obama administration touts its latest enrollment numbers for the ObamaCare exchanges, some state networks are grappling with major changes ahead of the next sign-up period – meaning more cost to taxpayers. The biggest overhaul came out of Oregon, which last week decided to junk its broken health care exchange and turn to the federal government for help. "Their health exchange has been a disaster," said Michael Cannon, of the Cato Institute (Angle, 5/1).

The Associated Press:  State Health Exchange Looking At Financing Options
New Mexico's state-run health insurance exchange wants to hear from the public on how to raise about $24 million annually to pay for operating the online marketplace in the future. Among the options are fees on private insurance companies selling health care policies in the state (Massey, 5/1).