Republican House staffers promised a fireworks show ahead of yesterday’s testimony by Jonathan Gruber, the now infamous ‘adviser’ to Democrats and the White House during the construction of Obamacare, and a fireworks show is indeed what we got.
Tongue-lashed both by Republicans and Democrats alike, Gruber repeatedly lamented the comments he made on candid camera in which he referred to the ‘stupidity’ of voters as essential to the passing of Obamacare, reports FOX News Politics.
When pressed by Rep. Tim Walberg about whether he and the administration knew people would lose their health plans under Obamacare, Gruber revealed, “It is true that some people would have to upgrade their plans… I was present for discussion of those numbers and interpretation of what they meant in terms of how the law would affect individuals.”
And when pressed further by Walberg as to why President Obama told voters they could keep their plans despite facts to the contrary, Gruber continued,
“I’m not a political adviser and I have no answer to that question. [But] that was part of the calculation. We did model that some individuals would lose their existing plans and move to new forms of coverage…I don’t know the national estimate for how many people lost health insurance, so I don’t know how it compares to what I projected.”
The testimony puts further downward pressure on the White House which has given conflicting characterizations both of Gruber’s role as simply ‘some advisor’ and of what the administration knew might happen to health plans when Obamacare was implemented.
That the facts on the ground and what Obama and administration officials repeatedly declared are in stark conflict is likely the understatement of the year. And with congressional Democrats already backpedaling on the signature legislation they all supported in 2009, things continue to get worse for the party.
