Oregon Republicans and Democrats say Cover Oregon’s days are numbered.

The board governing the state’s health care exchange last week avoided deciding whether to recommend what lawmakers from both chambers and parties now promise will happen: dissolving the failed exchange.

But after three days of blistering demands from top political brass, the only question that remains regarding the future of Cover Oregon is how quickly it will be dissolved.

Gov. John Kitzhaber led the politicians into the weekend Thursday when he released a statement saying it would be the “lowest-risk path” to move the remaining Cover Oregon functions to existing state agencies.

Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, followed up Kitzhaber on Friday by releasing a statement promising to unveil legislation next session that would fold Cover Oregon into the Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Insurance Division.

“Enough is enough. Oregonians deserve better than Cover Oregon has delivered,” Courtney’s statement read.

House Republican Leader Mike McLane, R-Powell Butte, chalked Courtney’s call up to campaign-season politics on Friday.

But Senate Republican Leader Ted Ferrioli, of John Day, upped Courtney’s ante a day later when he called for a special session to dissolve Cover Oregon.

“Next year will be too late,” Ferrioli said. “Oregonians have suffered more than two years of broken promises and hundreds of millions of wasted taxpayer dollars.”

Two Republican senators, Betsy Close, R-Albany, and Alan Olsen, R-Canby, sent statements just minutes after Ferrioli backing the call for a special session.

Olsen was one of just five senators who voted against the bill that established Cover Oregon in 2011.

Spokespersons for Senate and House Democratic leaders said Monday a special session isn’t likely.

Jared Mason-Gere, spokesman for House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, said dissolving a corporation the size of Cover Oregon will be discussed in meetings over the coming months.

“The process of closing Cover Oregon and transitioning to publicly accountable state agencies needs to be managed carefully so that Oregonians’ health coverage is not disrupted,” Mason-Gere said.

Courtney also called rushing into any moves on Cover Oregon “a reckless mistake.”

Cover Oregon has been mired by a website that never launched, leading the state to hire hundreds of employees to sign up health insurance enrollees manually. Two lawsuits have risen from the failed launch of the website, which was one of the most costly in the nation. The marketplace costs rose to nearly $280 million, with about $220 million being spent by Cover Oregon. All of that money came from more than $304 million in federal grants. The budget to fix the website is $35 million.

The state has largely pointed the finger at technology giant Oracle for the website’s failure.

Over the weekend, The Oregonian reported thousands of people who got tax credits for their health insurance premiums may owe the IRS money because of a Cover Oregon accounting error.

Ariane Holm, a public relations specialist for Cover Oregon, told The Bulletin on Monday the group is still trying to figure out how many customers will be impacted by the mistake.

She said anyone who “purchased plans that included other benefits (such as adult vision care, etc.) in addition to the essential health benefits, and used a tax credit to help pay their premium,” may be affected. “While people who bought these plans may or may not be affected we know that customers who used their tax credit to buy plans that cover only essential health benefits are not affected by this error.”

Holm said Cover Oregon is looking into the mistake and should have a better idea of its impact on customers later this week. She said customers who are worried they may have received an overpayment should call 1-955-CoverOR.

— Reporter: 406-589-4347,

tanderson@bendbulletin.com