The Obamacare architect (who says he isn’t) Jonathan Gruber said Tuesday morning that he is “embarrassed” for comments he made discussing the public’s awareness and intelligence amid the passage of the president’s health care reform.
Testifying before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Gruber, a key economist and spokesperson behind the law, was straightforward in apologizing for a series of on-camera remarks that came to light this year showing him — in his words — “demeaning others.”
“In some cases I made uninformed and glib comments about the political process behind health care reform. I am not an expert on politics and my tone implied that I was, which is wrong. In other cases I simply made insulting and mean comments that are totally uncalled for in any situation,” Gruber said, according to prepared testimony. “I sincerely apologize both for conjecturing with a tone of expertise and for doing so in such a disparaging fashion.”
“I know better. I knew better. I am embarrassed, and I am sorry,” he continued.
Gruber contested in his statement that he “was not the ‘architect’ of President Obama’s health care plan,” and instead played a more technical and obscure role in law’s rollout, which included running economic simulations to help state and federal policymakers assess the outcomes of various healthcare reform choices.
The New York Times, however, labeled Gruber “Mr. Mandate” for his work in public health policy. “It is his research that convinced the Obama administration that health care reform could not work without requiring everyone to buy insurance,” the paper wrote in 2012. The Wall Street Journal noted two years before then that his healthcare modeling was “well-regarded,” and his consulting contracts with the Obama administration were handsome. His influence behind the law is well-documented.
Such prominence led even the House committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Elijah Cummings, to lambaste Gruber Tuesday morning, chastising him for handing Republicans a “PR” victory.
“Man, you did a great job. You wrapped it up with a bow,” Cummings said sarcastically.
Committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa was equally salty, asking Gruber rhetorically if he was “stupid.”
He said he wasn’t, of course — it was all Gruber could do to reinforce that his comments were “really inexcusable.”
