$2 billion in tax payer money for states experimental health insurance plan

Faced with a massive funding shortfall for a sweeping Medicaid expansion, Democratic Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber successfully convinced President Obama’s administration to gamble on the state’s new, largely untested health care plan to the tune of nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funds. After an eleventh-hour meeting in Washington, DC, Kitzhaber announced he had convinced the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to stake him the estimated $1.9 billion needed to cover the costs to…