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Monday, July 28, 2014

Dr. Gruber-were you wrong then or are you wrong now?

The "were you wrong then.." question is a classic attorney question thrown at an expert witness who has been caught in a contradiction. It seems that would be an appropriate one for Dr. Jonathan Gruber, a MIT economist who is often cited as an architect of Obamacare.Actually he was the architect of the Massachusetts health care law on which Obamacare is said to have been crafted but apparently did play some role in giving advice re: ACA.

In remarks recorded and played repeatedly on the web Gruber make it clear that he believed that only states could issue the subsidies.His comments indicated that states who did not sign on to Obamacare would be doing a great disservice to the its poor citizens as that was, he said, the only way they could get subsidies.
When a Federal court rules that his view was correct he changed his view and claimed that of course the Federal Government could give the subsidies.

See here for an article from Reason which quotes his before and after comments (Before the Halbig decision).

As to how Gruber would answer the hypothetical lawyer question, he has said that he simply made a mistake when he made the earlier remark. You know sort of a "speak- o"similar to the "typo" in Obamacare legislative language  which he claims must have occurred because everyone knew what they "really meant" and that the D.C. court used in its decision.The above quoted Reason article references a second time that Gruber made the  same speak-o.

Speak-o s may have been the cause of his various pronouncements  over time as to if Obamacare would increase or decrease health care costs.

  Being a health care economist, like a public health czar or clinical guideline writer, means you don't not have to ever say you are sorry.




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