Cover Oregon has retreated from its promise to be open about what it does and has now tried an inconsistent policy of cover up.

At its event at The Riverhouse Conference Center in Bend recently, hundreds of people turned out to fill out applications for health insurance and get advice.

Cover Oregon staff told a Bulletin photographer, Ryan Brennecke, to stop taking photos in the main hall because it might make some people uncomfortable. They were discussing personal information.

Then Cover Oregon staff allowed a reporter from Oregon Public Broadcasting to go into the hall and record sounds for his broadcast. A microphone gathering conversation is OK, but a picture of someone is not?

Cover Oregon staff were taking photos of people. Those people snapping pictures are OK, but it’s not OK for news organizations?

Cover Oregon also set up the interviews at The Riverhouse with people a few feet apart. That made it easy to hear personal information. That protects privacy?

Of course, Cover Oregon’s awkward, flailing attempts to protect people’s privacy are not the most important issue. The priority is to ensure that people who need health insurance get it.

But lets remember Cover Oregon’s track record. It got access to more than $200 million in grants.

It was going to make health insurance more accessible and easier to understand with a new online marketplace.

It failed. The website missed its deadline. It’s not clear when it’s going to be working.

The state also lost track of its spending. It spent $16 million of the money without keeping accurate track of it.

Cover Oregon has struggled to get its quality ratings for insurance plans right. The ratings are not adequately explained on the website. Some data for some insurers was thrown out. Some insurers have complained they weren’t given a fair deal.

Its efforts to protect privacy at The Riverhouse were not the only privacy mess. Cover Oregon mailed a Salem woman back some application information that included personal information — names, dates or birth and Social Security information — for other applicants. There have been two other similar incidents.

Whatever good could come of Cover Oregon, every well-intentioned policy lives or dies by what it does.