ABOVE VIDEO:In this recently discovered 2013 video, Massachusetts Institute of Technology health economist Jonathan Gruber talks about the Affordable Care Act at the Annual Health Economists’ Conference last year.
Obamacare Architect Jonathan Gruber Explains Why “Lack of Transparency” Was Key to Passing the Health Care Law
In 2009–10 Jonathan Gruber served as a technical consultant to the Obama Administration and worked with both the administration and Congress to help craft the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often referred to as the ACA or “Obamacare.” The act was signed into law in March 2010, and Gruber has been described as an “architect.” “writer,” and “consultant” of the legislation.
Jonathan Gruber
“This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure [the Congressional Budget Office] did not score the mandate as taxes,” Gruber said in this 52-second video clip.
“If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. OK, so it’s written to do that. In terms of risk-rated subsidies, if you had a law which said that healthy people are going to pay in – you made explicit healthy people pay in and sick people get money, it would not have passed.”
Gruber then discussed a “lack of transparency,” calling American voters stupid.
“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” Gruber said. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really really critical for the thing to pass.”
“Look, I wish … we could make it all transparent,” Gruber said, “but I’d rather have this law than not.”
