Jonathan Gruber is an interesting case. He is an MIT professor that was one of the chief architects for Romneycare in Massachusetts and Obamacare. He gained some notoriety this past Summer when the Halbig case was decided. That is the case that considered whether the ACA allows subsidies to be given through the federal exchange or whether they were limited to state exchanges by the plain language of the statute. We covered the case here. ACA apologists were put in the strange position of opposing the language of the statute saying that this was merely a "typo" and was certainly not intended by any of the architects of the ACA. Yet, a video of Professor Gruber saying just the opposite in 2012 surfaced:
Questioner: You mentioned the health-information [sic] Exchanges for the states, and it is my understanding that if states don’t provide them, then the federal government will provide them for the states.
Gruber: Yeah, so these health-insurance Exchanges, you can go on ma.healthconnector.org and see ours in Massachusetts, will be these new shopping places and they’ll be the place that people go to get their subsidies for health insurance. In the law, it says if the states don’t provide them, the federal backstop will. The federal government has been sort of slow in putting out its backstop, I think partly because they want to sort of squeeze the states to do it. I think what’s important to remember politically about this, is if you’re a state and you don’t set up an Exchange, that means your citizens don’t get their tax credits. But your citizens still pay the taxes that support this bill. So you’re essentially saying to your citizens, you’re going to pay all the taxes to help all the other states in the country. I hope that’s a blatant enough political reality that states will get their act together and realize there are billions of dollars at stake here in setting up these Exchanges, and that they’ll do it. But you know, once again, the politics can get ugly around this.
So, here is one of the chief architects of Obamacare stating that this supposed "typo" is really a design feature! Needless to say, this was embarassing for Professor Gruber. His explanation? "I honestly don't remember why I said that." Then another video surfaced of him saying the same thing. Hmmm, must have been something in the water.
Now, more videos of Professor Gruber have surfaced. Here is talking about how Obamacare was passed:
"the stupidity of the American voter" just requires certain things, you see. Here he is again at a speech in Rhode Island talking about a "very clever basic exploitation of the lackof economic understanfing of the American voter."
The case of Mr. Gruber is interesting. He obviously is perfectly willing to lie where it suits his preferred policy outcomes, but he just can't help himself from telling everyone who will listen that he is doing it! This is classic outrageous arrogance, what the Greeks called hubris. Mr. Gruber is obviously a very smart fellow, indeed, much smarter than you or me. You see, he knows better. So, you should simply shut up, sit down and let him take us to the future of American healthcare. He has pretty much been in the driver's seat for the last six years. God help us in the days to come.
UPDATE:
The story about Gruber continues to receive notice from the media. But, the coverage is written purely from the perspective of how the administration is dealing with these unfortunate comments. The stories are not written from the point of view of someone concerned that these statements might actually be true and the implications of them if they are. Indeed, it is as if the press already knows the answer to that question!
