EDITORIAL: Euthanize exchange

Some good news for Nevada: Rancher Cliven Bundy’s views on race in America appear to have finally cycled through the national media. The bad news: Nevada’s failing Obamacare exchange is creating a new round of negative national press.

For more than a week, an appalling statistic has been circulating on television and through the Internet and social media: The country’s four poorest-performing state-based health insurance website exchanges have cost U.S. taxpayers $474 million — nearly half a billion bucks — and the figure will go higher yet to fix them or shut them down.

Oregon is the worst of the bunch, having blown $248 million before bailing out and joining the federal exchange. Maryland and Massachusetts, like Nevada, are trying to save their exchanges. It’s not worth it.

The exchanges exist solely to hide the true cost of health insurance from the few applicants who qualify for subsidies. For this, Nevadans have endured maddening delays and errors, including payments that have resulted in no coverage.

Nevada Health Link is a certifiable lemon. Scrap it before it can waste even more money. Then Congress should scrap the entire Affordable Care Act.