Vermont Paid $170 Million for Healthcare Exchange Website to Insure 40,000 People

◼ Vermont's exchange, healthconnect.vermont.gov, is nearly entirely non-functional, and the vast majority of prospective customers have found themselves unable to actually purchase the insurance plan they selected. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin assured Vermonters that the site would be functional on Nov. 1, but as of today, Nov. 3, the only thing on the website is an error message. - Christine Rousselle/Townhall

The population of Vermont is approximately 626,000 people. Of these 626,000, roughly 42,000 lack health insurance. If Vermont had divided up the amount used to fund the non-functional exchange equally amongst all uninsured Vermont residents, the state could have doled out roughly $4,000 per person.

The failure of the Vermont exchange could have dire consequences for thousands of Vermont families. Due to state law designed to increase enrollment in the exchange, individuals or employers that employ fewer than 50 people cannot legally purchase private insurance after January 1, 2014, and they must enroll in the exchange. Their previous plans also evaporate on the first of the year. Vermont residents who work for small businesses were never given the "if you like your plan, you can keep it" promise–and with a broken exchange, they could easily be without insurance coverage through no fault of their own in less than two months.

◼ Governor invokes 'safety valve' provision for health exchange: After trying to remain upbeat despite a month of malfunctions, Gov. Peter Shumlin last week invoked the legal safety mechanism that will give thousands of Vermonters the option to temporarily bypass Vermont Health Connect to obtain health insurance coverage for 2014. - Burlington Free Press

◼ Oh, Good Grief… Oregon Health Exchange Website Only Works with Internet Explorer, so far no one has signed up for Obamacare in the state. - Gateway Pundit

So all those young people that like to use Firefox, Safari, Chrome, etc… are out of luck…

CoverOregon.org, was “built and tested for use with Internet Explorer,” and may “not work properly” if used on other browsers, according to the site.

◼ Obamacare is Set to Throttle Young Men Throughout Ohio - Mediatrackers

Data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) prove that health insurance premiums for young men in all 88 Ohio counties will skyrocket because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.