Cover Oregon ad from 2013

The state of Oregon is dumping its failed health-insurance exchange Cover Oregon and joining the federal website, the Associated Press reports.

The vote by the Cover Oregon board this morning comes after the state spent $248 million on its exchange, without ever signing up a single customer through its website.

Oregon becomes the first state to abandon its online health-care exchange for the federal system.

The AP writes:

Cover Oregon’s board voted unanimously Friday to approve an advisory committee’s recommendation to ditch its troubled portal. Under the option, Oregon will use HealthCare.Gov for private policies but continue using its current system for Medicaid enrollments.A top Cover Oregon official said Thursday fixing the existing system would be too costly at $78 million and would take too long. Switching to the federal system will cost just $4 million to $6 million.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that federal officials had decided to take control of Cover Oregon, even before state officials reached a decision.