Former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber was told in early 2014 that the Obamacare state health care exchange his administration spent $305 million building could be made operational. But his administration chose instead to scrap the project and seek a scapegoat to keep the fiasco from harming his re-election, according to evidence turned over to congressional investigators.
The materials, reviewed by The Washington Times, include emails and memos between state officials and campaign aides as well as a transcript of a conversation from a state official turned whistleblower that suggests federal tax dollars were sacrificed for political convenience.
PHOTOS: Democrats behaving badly: Scandals taint party in a tough election year
The memos show Mr. Kitzhaber’s election campaign aides took the unusual step of instructing state officials on how to handle the Cover Oregon exchange project, especially when the project was abandoned just before its launch. The campaign aides even sought to supervise the testimony of a state official appearing before the U.S. Congress.
The memos suggest that the decision to scrap the project before it launched — creating a massive loss for federal taxpayers and inconvenience to thousands of customers — was driven more by politics than merit, according to the chairman of a House committee investigating the matter.
“There is a curious crossover between the political and the executive branch in Oregon, and it doesn’t smell right, and it doesn’t look right and there’s a lot of smoke,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, Utah Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “There are hundreds of millions of dollars that need to be accounted for. It’s highly suspicious, and we intend to get to the bottom of it.”
SEE ALSO: FLASHBACK: Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber, fiancee provide new green energy scandal for Democrats
Mr. Kitzhaber resigned this year amid an ethics scandal that remains under federal criminal investigation. He raised suspicion in April 2014, during his re-election campaign, when he shut down the oft-delayed Cover Oregon health care exchange just weeks before its scheduled launch.
Janet Hoffman, criminal defense attorney for the former Oregon governor, declined to comment Monday evening.
The state had accepted $305 million in federal aid to build the exchange, and its shutdown required Oregon to spend another $41 million to join the federal Obamacare exchange as an alternative. It is one of several state health care exchanges that have struggled under Obamacare.
About half of the 17 health insurance marketplace exchanges set up by states have had financial trouble, and three of them — in Nevada, New Mexico and Oregon, which collectively received $517 million in federal funding — are now using the federally facilitated marketplace instead.
Hawaii announced last week that it may be forced to ditch its exchange this year because of financial problems, and technical problems are prompting Minnesota and Vermont to consider using the HealthCare.gov exchange as well.
The Oregon episode has spurred a significant legal battle, as the main contractor for the project, Oracle Corp., has accused state officials of engaging in conflicts of interest and exercising such poor oversight that it jeopardized a project that otherwise would have succeeded.
The state has countered by suing Oracle, accusing it of shoddy work.
Evidence from official documents gathered by congressional investigators or obtained under open records laws suggests Mr. Kitzhaber’s aides applied pressure to kill the project even though the governor had been told the exchange could be fixed and made operational.
Emails recovered from computer servers show Mr. Kitzhaber was directly told in February 2014 by Cover Oregon’s director that the state exchange’s problems could be fixed with additional testing and training.
Story Continues →
