Kitzhaber calls for review of program he apparently didn’t bother to, uh, review

December 16, 2013

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John Kitzhaber, who wants to be Oregon’s governor for a fourth term, has now taken a cue from the Health and Human Services Secretary and called for an “independent review” of the very program he screwed up: OrBamaCare. 

It’s a joke, of course. To call for an ‘independent review’ of a program you oversaw is like baking a and then calling for a review of the baker who made it. The program and its website are a debacle. 

Here’s what KATU says about the call for a review,

Cover Oregon acting executive director, Dr. Bruce Goldberg, made the announcements during a press briefing Monday morning. Goldberg revealed the state has hired contractors to investigate the problems surrounding the site but did not give any other details. Spokesmen for the governor’s office did not immediately return calls.

“I think that independent review will be helpful in answering those questions,” Goldberg said of the many looming questions surrounding the Cover Oregon website.

Goldberg said Cover Oregon will hire two experts to review software code written by Oracle Corp., the primary contractor developing the exchange technology, and he repeated a pledge to hold the company accountable.

“We need to get people enrolled. We need a website that’s usable, that helps people enroll and that’s what we thought we were buying,” Goldberg said. “I think that the contractor bears some responsibility for paying for that.”

At the same time, Goldberg said Cover Oregon is finalizing arrangements with legal counsel to consider options, in its contract, to hold Oracle accountable.

“I think it’s just prudent business and it’s what we need to do,” Goldberg said.

Cover Oregon has already withheld more than $18 million to $20 million from Oracle based on its lagging work performance. The software-development contract is not for a fixed price, but rather requires the state to pay an hourly fee.

And how many people have signed up via the website for Cover Oregon–OrBamaCare?  Zero.

44 people have signed up via hand written applications at a cost of $300 million dollars.