Report: Oregon has zero healthcare enrollees

The state of Oregon has yet to enroll a single person into its state-run healthcare exchange, according to reports by The Associated Press and NPR released on Monday.

Oregon is one of 14 states that opted to run its own healthcare exchange under the Affordable Care Act, and the state has often been spotlighted by liberals as having implemented one of the country’s more ambitious healthcare overhauls.

{mosads}But the state’s exchange has suffered technical issues similar to those affecting the federal system, and continues to sputter more than a month after its launch.

Oregon officials say the demand is there and that it’s scrambling to work through the 7,300 paper applications it has received. Officials also point to the state’s expanded Medicaid program, which it says has significantly cut down on the number of uninsured.

The Obama administration has said it will release enrollment data later this month, and is under intense pressure to fix the glitch-filled HealthCare.gov. The administration has conceded that the technical issues surrounding the website will cut into the initial enrollment figures.

Thirty-four states, many of them run by Republican legislatures or governors, have declined to actively participate in the federally mandated healthcare overhaul, opting instead to have the federal government run their state’s exchange through HealthCare.gov.