Obamacare Health Fraud : CoverOregon Uncovered

En Garde In The Bunker

En Garde In The Bunker

Obamacare health fraud; yes, today, on March 31st 2014, the self-described Obamacare “final day of sign-ups”, news comes to light of massive fraud that has plagued Obamacare over the past few years. The contentious law itself notwithstanding, Cover Oregon, one of the state agencies designed to handle enrollments, has been “unCovered” to the tune of $305 million dollars which somehow went “poof” into the night.

As it has been for President Barack Obama, healthcare has been the signature achievement of Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, who is running for reelection in November. Perhaps the greatest irony in the entire Cover Oregon debacle was that in late August 2013, Modern Healthcare magazine named Kitzhaber the second-most influential person in American healthcare. No doubt magazine editors thought the accolade would be complimentary. On the contrary however, it would appear that Gov. Kitzhaber is running for re-election as the second most influential liar in American healthcare; and in Oregon that may be enough to justify his effort. Obamacare health fraud.

Will we ever need another example of why government at all levels is in the hands of incompetents who have lost control of the beast they’ve created? Sort of like the scientists at Jurassic Park. For the sake of our society and social order this has to change. There are some basic truths about the human condition that political leaders seem not to understand. All change, however well-intentioned, will disrupt the social fabric with unforeseeable and potentially serious negative consequences. And the effects are much worse for sweeping radical change which abolishes whole tracts of settled human understanding and social wisdom. For radical change to be genuinely worthwhile, it must bring overwhelming social benefit, or be the product of the most extreme necessity. ObamaCare and Cover Oregon? Not even close.

Had Obama been a tad more shading towards the humble pie side in the February 2010 “Healthcare Roundtable” and taken Paul Ryan’s presentation to heart, the 2700-page mess that is Obamacare would have/could have, been so much more successful than how it has turned out. True solutions to shared problems demand a very stretchable “give-and-take” boundary line, that can be criss crossed numerous times during discourse, generally resulting in a fair and balanced solution for all concerned. Hard-headed stubbornness on the other hand, leads to, well, what we have today. A mess known as Obamacare health fraud.

Now, on to Mark Hyman and Cover Oregon…

“Bottom Line: We Are On Track To Launch” ranks right up there with “If you like your health care plan, you can keep it,” as one of the biggest falsehoods in the annals of Obamacare.

The latter quote is the one that President Barack Obama used repeatedly as he lobbied for passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and then as he campaigned for a second presidential term. PolitiFact named Obama’s statement the 2013 lie of the year.

Less is known about the first quote, offered by Rocky King in a PowerPoint presentation. King was the then-Executive Director of Cover Oregon. This was the name of the healthcare exchange and related website for the state of Oregon, one of 14 states (and the District of Columbia) that set-up state-run healthcare exchanges as part of Obamacare. The remaining 36 states rely on the federal exchange to enroll citizens in the new healthcare program. King offered his quote in a presentation that was dated two weeks before the Cover Oregon website was to go live on October 1, 2013.

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