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Aylee -> RE: Gruber, and the stupidity of the American voter (11/17/2014 9:11:08 PM)
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ORIGINAL: JeffBC
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ORIGINAL: BamaD
Pelosi quoted him repeatedly and he met with Obama at least twice.
I get that he was involved as a consultant. But I wasn't able to find any sort of evidence of him being close enough either to the bill or to Obama that I'm likely to get offended by his dumbass remarks, as true as they are -- or at least to pin my ire on anyone in particular. Heck, if Obama himself said those quotes on National TV I'd still have much larger beefs with him. Instead we get some political consultant peripherally involved with the whole thing shooting his mouth off. Not newsworthy in my mind.
To me, the funny part in all this is that his remarks are utterly true and we all know it. His sin was in saying it not acting on it. Yeah, politicians rely on the ignorance of us voters... and in fact do their damnedest to make sure we stay ignorant. This cannot be any sort of revelation. But yeah, it's certainly crass to just go ahead and say so on video.
Bit more than just a consultant.
Presolicitation Notice: https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=ff3e0b204ae1fd5343ab19cf3a62f160&_cview=0
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The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), intends to negotiate with Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D. on a sole sources basis for technical assistance in evaluating options for national healthcare reform. The basis for restricting competition is the authority of 41 USC 253(c)(1) 106-1(b) because there is only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy DHHS requirements.The anticipated contract period will be eight months.
And . . .
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Dr. Gruber is uniquely positioned to provide the analytic work ASPE requires based on over 15 years of experience in health care and health policy. Dr. Gruber is a recognized expert in health policy in economics including being widely published in peer-reviewed academic and health policy literature on the effects of changes in health benefit designs on the cost of enrollment in health insurance. Moreover, in order to estimate the impacts, Dr. Gruber developed a proprietary statistically sophisticated micro-simulation model that has the flexibility to ascertain the distribution of changes in health care spending and public and private sector health care costs due to a large variety of changes in health insurance benefit design, public program eligibility criteria, and tax policy. This model has been used for other health reform proposal. Finally, Dr. Gruber’s ongoing work with ASPE, using these proprietary models to help inform the Office of Health Reform, strongly positions him to meet HHS’ requirements the most efficiently, which is a key requirement in order for well-developed legislative proposals to be put forth for Congressional consideration as soon as possible
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2009/11/29/mit-economist-confirms-senate-health-reform-bill-reduces-costs-and-improves-coverage
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MIT Economist Confirms Senate Health Reform Bill Reduces Costs and Improves Coverage
Jonathan Gruber, PhD, a MIT Economist who has been closely following the health insurance reform process, issued a compelling new report based on data from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. As the Politico wrote, "The report concludes that under the Senate’s health-reform bill, Americans buying individual coverage will pay less than they do for today's typical individual market coverage, and would be protected from high out-of-pocket costs." Here are some key points:
Gruber concludes that the Senate proposal's health insurance exchange, choices and competition, and policies to hold insurers accountable would reduce costs. Savings for people purchasing coverage in the individual market would range from $200 to 500 for individuals and families, and would be greater if people opted for basic benefits. People with low incomes would receive premium tax credits that would reduce the price that they pay for health insurance by as much as $2,500 to $7,500 in 2009 dollars.
Two charts based on his report illustrate these savings:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/13/editorial-jonathan-grubers-payday/
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Minnesota, for example, used federal Obamacare grants to pay Mr. Gruber to attend one meeting, participate in a biweekly email list and print a copy of the report, all for $329,000. Wisconsin paid Mr. Gruber $400,000 for the same material, requested by the office of then-Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat. When the report was presented, Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, didn’t want Mr. Gruber at the news conference. Vermont is paying him another $400,000 . . . West Virginia, Maine, Colorado and Oregon have partaken of Mr. Gruber’s services, too, guaranteeing him a tidy sum.
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