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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMeet Jonathan Gruber, The Man Who’s Willing To Say What Everyone Else Is Only Thinking About Obamaca
By Jason Millman November 12 at 9:58 AM
Jonathan Gruber might not be a household name, but in the world of health care policy, he's a pretty big deal. And now he's also known as the guy who's credited "the stupidity of the American voter" for the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
An old video surfaced this week of Gruber saying that a lack of transparency was one of the reasons Obamacare got through Congress in 2010. Gruber, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology health economist who's credited as one of the intellectual godfathers of the Affordable Care Act, has apologized for speaking off the cuff, but critics of the law are eagerly highlighting his comments.
That's because of what Gruber represents. He was one of the architects of the 2006 Massachusetts health care law, which became the basis for the ACA, and he helped craft the federal legislation that used a similar scheme of guaranteed coverage, financial assistance and insurance mandates. He was far from the only person who helped shape the ACA, but he has been one of its most vocal academic defenders in the nearly five years since it passed. (And he's the only one to write a comic book about the law.)
It's easy to see why Gruber's comments get pored over by ACA opponents. There's plenty of misunderstanding about what's in the ACA and mistrust of the motivations for passing the law just recall Nancy Pelosi's infamous line about needing to pass the bill to find out what's in it. So when someone like Gruber, who's supposed to know the law inside and out, seemingly confirms critics' worst suspicions, that makes for a powerful anecdote.
more...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/11/12/meet-jonathan-gruber-the-man-whos-willing-to-say-what-everyone-else-is-only-thinking-about-obamacare/
Psephos
(8,032 posts)B2G
(9,766 posts)He called the American people 'stupid' multiple times, stated that the bill was totally non-transparent by design because it gave us a 'political advantage', confirmed that it was indeed a tax and not a penalty and admitted that states without exchanges aren't supposed to be eligible for subsidies under the law.
And he's on OUR side?
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Judging simply by the list you provided (sans the last one... possibly), he sounds like numerous DU posters.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)people who have it instead of the architect of Romney Care who advised the President but did not create Obamacare.
And yes I know someone who is dissatisfied. Here in MN a woman who was angry because she had to change health plans because she liked her old one is upset. But she was one of the ones who got to keep the old stuff even though she was warned that it was not a good plan. Now she got a letter that she her old plan is getting out of the exchange and she will have to pay a lot more for it. She says they told her that they are going broke. She does not know if she can go back into the exchange now and get another plan or if she has to wait for open enrollment.
Another family had to pay a lot more than they expected and had a very high co-pay.
I suspect these problems will work themselves out.
Orsino
(37,428 posts)pansypoo53219
(20,978 posts)pnwmom
(108,980 posts)was a sloppy mistake in speaking?
Better yet, why are we spreading this around on DU without Gruber's subsequent explanation?
Psephos
(8,032 posts)I suspect there will be even more.
If you think his ex post facto explanation reveals his true sentiments, then you are one of the people he was referring to.
New Deal Dave
(32 posts)My students are all over these videos of this a-hole shooting his mouth off. They are peppering me with questions about his statements and running down the government.
Then I've got to go to a faculty meeting where the right-wingers are quoting his shit back to me. They even drop by my office where they crack jokes about it.
Gruber and his big mouth is killing us.