Rare News Desk
Oregon Obamacare website officials allegedly lied to federal officials about progress with the state’s website portal, which has never been completed, to get federal money. Two of the project’s leaders have resigned in disgrace and some people may face federal criminal fraud charges. Meanwhile, federal officials, who did the same thing, have never been held accountable.
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Oregon’s Obamacare website has been an even worse disaster than the federal version. Portland ABC television affiliate KATU—note that’s ABC, not Fox—has been dogging state officials, including Democratic Governor John Kitzhaber, with questions. And, just like investigators looking into problems at the federal level, KATU reporters haven’t gotten many straight answers. Kitzhaber even got up and walked out of an interview.
But now, allegations appear to be moving from incompetence to outright fraud. According to a recent KATU story, “Former Republican state Rep. Patrick Sheehan (an IT expert) told the KATU Investigators he has gone to the FBI with allegations that Cover Oregon project managers initiated the design of dummy web pages to convince the federal government the project was further along than it actually was.” The reporter says, “If Sheehan’s allegations are true, those managers could face time in jail for fraud.”
According to the story, website officials submitted false information to federal officials in order to get $48 million, which eventually grew to $59 million. Officials claimed they had picked a company to provide software and technical assistance; had demonstrated the website was safe from hackers; and people could sign up and get insurance coverage.
What’s more, those overseeing the state’s website development kept reassuring others that everything was working well and on schedule, even though an outside company assessing the project repeatedly warned of minimal progress and multiple website problems—none of which was revealed.
State officials now say they hope the website portal will be running by March.
Sounds exactly like the sins committed by federal Obamacare officials, and especially Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Yet while federal officials lied, they keep getting invitations to the White House. Oregon officials, on the other hand, may get to go to the Big House.
One recurring question is why President Obama is protecting HHS officials. We know the president will throw a longtime friend and supporter under the bus if he thinks it will help his career: look at Obama’s pastor of 20 years, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Sebelius has created more embarrassment for Obama than Monica Lewinsky did for Hillary Clinton, so why does Sebelius still have a job?
The argument was made, prior to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ending the filibuster for non-Supreme Court presidential appointees, that the president couldn’t get another HHS secretary past a Senate filibuster. That shouldn’t be a problem now, though Obamacare critics would have a chance to raise the issues at a confirmation hearing.
Or it may be that Sebelius knows were the Obamacare bodies are lying—pun intended—and so the president has determined that he will protect her as long as she protects him.
Whatever the reason, it looks like some Oregon Obamacare officials could be charged with fraud. And at least one punishment should be that they and their families can’t have health insurance until they successfully register through the Oregon website.
