The Obama administration is doing all it can to run from Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber’s remarks about the “stupidity” of the American people that he claimed helped pass the health care law.
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell appeared on on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday and stressed to host Chuck Todd exactly how much she “fundamentally” disagrees with Gruber’s comments.
“I have to start with how fundamentally I disagree with his comments about the bill and about the American people,” Burwell began. “Since I have been at the department, one of the things that I’ve focused on is transparency, making sure that our numbers come out whether they’re good or bad.”
The HHS secretary then alleged that Obamacare is “based” on transparency, shooting down the assertion made by Gruber that the “lack of transparency” of the law allowed the administration to get it passed.
“The law is based on the issues of transparency and belief in the American people and choices in the marketplace,” explained Burwell.
Over the last several days, multiple videos of Gruber — an MIT professor and consultant on Obamacare — have surfaced in which he suggests that the American people are stupid and that the Affordable Care Act was written to deceive them.
Like Burwell, President Obama and White House press secretary Josh Earnest have both emphasized the fact that they “disagree” with the remarks made by Gruber.
Obama also emphasized Sunday that Gruber was simply “an adviser who was never on our staff.”
Gruber was paid nearly $400,000 for his consulting work on Obamacare.
