Feb. 4, 2014
Photo courtesy teaparty.org
A former Republican lawmaker has contacted the FBI over allegations that Cover Oregon project managers misled the federal government about the progress of the state health insurance exchange in order to get millions of dollars in funding.
More specifically, KATU-TV reports that project managers allegedly “initiated the design of dummy web pages to convince the federal government the project was further along than it actually was.”
If the allegations are true, it amounts to fraud and “someone’s going to prison,” former Republican state Rep. Patrick Sheehan told the news station.
“The issue had to do with federal funding and proving some amount of compliance with the federal regulation in order to get funding,” he said.
The federal government initially approved a $48 million “early innovator” grant for the Cover Oregon project. However, the project ultimately brought in $59 million in federal funding.