Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Democrats, Republicans Battle Over Jonathan Gruber's Role In Designing Obamacare
Politico: New Obamacare Furor: Was Jonathan Gruber The “Architect”?
Nobody much cared how much credit Jonathan Gruber took for Obamacare — until now. Once videos surfaced in which the MIT economist talked about the public’s “stupidity,” his claims suddenly matter a lot. (Winfield Cunningham, 11/13)
The Washington Post's Fact Checker: Did Jonathan Gruber Earn ‘Almost $400,000′ From The Obama Administration?
Republicans are demanding hearings into videos that have emerged in recent days of MIT professor Jonathan Gruber making impolitic remarks about the Affordable Care Act. Why should Gruber’s comments matter? Because Gruber is well-known in health-care circles as one of the intellectual godfathers of Obamacare and the very similar law in Massachusetts (sometimes called Romneycare), though people involved in ACA deny he was “an architect” of the ACA. (Kessler, 11/14)
CNN: Obamacare Architect Discussed Misleading Public In 4th Newly Uncovered Video
As Congress voted on the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, in 2010, one of the bill's architects, MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, told a college audience that those pushing the legislation pitched it as a bill that would control spiraling health care costs even though most of the bill was focused on something else and there was no guarantee the bill would actually bend the cost curve. (Tapper, 11/13)
McClatchy: White House Defends Itself in 'Gruber' Gate
The White House looked to distance itself Thursday from critical remarks made by one of the architects of President Barack Obama’s health care law, who suggested the law benefited from a lack of transparency and the ignorance of the American voter. (Clark, 11/13)
Fox News: Pelosi Cited Obamacare Architect In Push For Law – Now Claims She Hasn’t Heard Of Him
Nancy Pelosi claimed Thursday she didn’t know who ObamaCare architect Jonathan Gruber is, after several tapes surfaced showing him gloating about how the law was written to take advantage of the stupidity of the American voter. Problem is, Gruber’s analysis of the law was cited extensively by her office back in 2009. (11/13)
The Washington Post: Were Republicans Worried That Attacking Obamacare Would Turn Out Democrats?
It's been the comments of economist Jonathan Gruber that has vaulted talk of repealing Obamacare back into the news. Republicans have seized on Gruber's remarks as suggesting that the development of President Obama's eponymous health-care policy was tainted from the outset, reinvigorating calls to scale it back. (Bump, 11/3)
