Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber took the hot seat before congressional investigators today to address notorious comments he made about the intelligence of the American people. The economist offered up an apology, among other things, for “trying to conjecture about the political process.”
Gruber testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on the transparency of the Affordable Care Act alongside Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The House panel summoned Gruber, a health economics professor at Massachusetts Institutes of Technology, after several videos surfaced last month of him mocking his fellow Americans. In one video, Gruber tells his audience how Democrats in Congress passed Obamacare with a deliberate lack of transparency and calls voters “stupid.”
Amid the fallout from these and similar Gruber comments on video, the White House worked to distance President Obama from the health care expert. However, visitor logs show Gruber made numerous visits to the White House and met with the president.
During today’s hearing, Republicans and Democrats condemned Gruber’s insults of the American public.
“As far as I can tell, we are here today to beat up on Jonathan Gruber for stupid — I mean absolutely stupid — comments he made over the last few years,” Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said. “Let me be clear, I am extremely frustrated with Dr. Gruber’s statements. They were irresponsibly, incredibly disrespectful and did not reflect reality. And they were indeed insulting.”
Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said that although Gruber, who has a doctorate in economics, wasn’t a stupid man, he did say some “stupid things.”
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Here are five of the MIT professor’s more interesting responses as he fielded questions from lawmakers.
1. Gruber apologized for his remarks multiple times
In a formal opening statement, Gruber apologized for “inappropriate” observations on how the administration and Democratic lawmakers shepherded Obamacare to passage:
In some cases, I made uninformed and glib comments about the political process behind health care reform. I am not an expert on politics and my tone implied that I was.
Throughout the hearing, Gruber repeatedly said he was “trying to conjecture about a political process in which I’m not an expert.”
2. Gruber contended that he was not, after all, the “architect” of Obamacare.
Numerous media accounts over the years described Gruber as one if not the “architect of Obamacare” for his work on crafting the law. Democrats often praised his expertise and contribution to the legislation.
“I was not the ‘architect’ of President Obama’s health care plan,” Gruber told lawmakers.
More than one pundit noted that he previously didn’t seem to be shy about that description.
3. Gruber repeatedly declined to tell lawmakers how much taxpayers’ money he took.
Several GOP lawmakers attempted to learn just how much money he received from taxpayers through multiple state and federal grants and contracts. Gruber refuse to divulge that information.
He gave the committee a brief list of federal grants that did not include federal and state contracts. He directed lawmakers to his lawyer.
According to a review of contracts by The Daily Signal, Gruber received $5.9 million from taxpayers for his work across several U.S. government agencies, as well as for Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin.
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4. Gruber knew that many people wouldn’t be able to keep their health plans.
Obama promised Americans that if they liked their health insurance plans, under Obamacare they could keep them. As it turned out, millions of consumers received cancellation notices from their insurance companies.
When asked if he believed the president’s promise, Gruber said he knew some Americans would have to change policies.
5. Gruber said taxes levied on insurance companies would be passed on to consumers.
In one video, Gruber said the Affordable Care Act was crafted to hide taxes imposed on consumers by levying them first on insurance companies.
During a line of questioning today, Gruber was asked to clarify once more if he agreed with that. He said he did:
I believe, as many economists do, that if you levy a tax on an insurer, it will be largely passed forward through premiums to the consumer.
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