John Oliver's New Show Slams Oregon for Its Failed Health Exchange

Cover Oregon

Former Daily Show guest host John Oliver's funny news show, Last Week Tonight, debuted last night on HBO. Overall, I thought it was pretty good—smartly written, consistently amusing, with a good mix of targets. One of those targets was Cover Oregon, the Obamacare insurance exchange that the folks in the Beaver State tried to set up.

I say tried because last week it was confirmed they had failed completely: No one ever signed up online, and the state announced that it was giving up on the expensive tech project, which had been awarded hundreds of millions in federal grants, and joining the federal health exchange.

Here's the segment:

Only one minor complaint: The $248 million figure Oliver's bit provides for the state's federal exchange funding is low. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oregon actually recieved a total of just more than $300 million in federal grants.

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