Oregon hipsters can breath a sigh of relief as the state’s folksy, counter-culture ads promoting Cover Oregon are being pulled from the waves of mainstream Oregonians.
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As if Cover Oregon, the Beaver State’s exchange, hasn’t been disastrous enough, Bruce Goldberg, the marketplace’s executive director, announced Monday its $21 million hipster ads would be pulled from the airwaves to shift the focus back to enrolling Oregonians. Set to the catchy jingle, “Live Long Oregon,” the costly ads feature folk singer Laura Gibson and promote Cover Oregon.
“We think it’s appropriate to hold off on any further advertising,” Goldberg said during a press conference Monday, according to Northwest Watchdog.
The ads have been largely removed, though some billboards remain. Cover Oregon planned to spend $10 million on the ad campaign, but then doubled that amount to $21 million in October.
Since the Oct. 1 launch of the Affordable Care Act, Cover Oregon has been the lead car of the Obamacare train wreck. A grand total of 44 Oregonians selected a health insurance plan through the state’s exchange in both October and November, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
And the state exchange has only recently begun reporting enrollments — via paper application. According to Northwest Watchdog, 7,500 have enrolled in private insurance plans, and 13,374 signed up for the Oregon Health Plan for low-income residents of the Beaver State. Additionally, 30,000 appellations still need to be processed, but half are laden with mistakes.
Oregon received $300 million from the federal government to build its own state exchange and plans to enroll a grand total of 100,000 by Jan. 1, most of which will receive coverage through Medicaid.
