House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Obamacare Work and Contract Details

In sworn congressional testimony on
Tuesday, MIT economist and Obamacare architect
repeatedly refused to immediately provide details of the contracts,
payments, and work he’d produced
as a health law consultant to
multiple states and the federal government. Reports suggest that
Gruber has received millions of dollars for his work over the
years.

Gruber did not submit the standard disclosure form before his
testimony. (Gruber said that he had been advised by his lawyer that
the alternative disclosure he submitted was in compliance with
committee requirements.) He said that he had received nearly
$400,000 for his work modeling the effects of Obamacare for the
federal government, a number that has been widely reported, but
when asked for additional information, he repeatedly
told
members of the House Oversight Committee that they could
take it up with his lawyer. He was warned that if he continued to
respond that way, the work would be subpoenaed. 

As of this morning, Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa
(R-Ca.) has followed through with a formal request for the
documents. According to a press release, the
request
 covers… 

1. All documents and communications to or from any federal,
state, or local government employee, including, but not limited to,
any document or communication referring or relating to the
Affordable Care Act or federal and state health care exchanges.

2. All documents and communications referring or relating to
funding, for research or otherwise, from any federal, state, or
local government agency, including, but not limited to, any
contract(s) with a federal, state, or local government agency.

3. All documents and communications referring or relating to
work product produced to any federal, state, or local government
agency, for any purpose, including, but not limited to, the results
of any and all economic models or simulations.

One thing to be on the lookout for when this comes through:
Gruber’s estimate of how many people would lose their existing
insurance under Obamacare.

Gruber admitted during questioning that his econometric model,
created for use by the administration and congressional staff
drafting the law, estimated that some Americans would not be able
to keep their existing health plans, but he wouldn’t say how many.
Shouldn’t that mean that Gruber knew that administration’s repeated
promises that those who like their health plans could keep their
plans under the law weren’t true?

Gruber was asked about the promise, and tried to dodge the
question by saying that he was not a political adviser. But
eventually he explained how he understood the president’s promise.
“I interpreted the administration’s comments as saying that for the
vast majority of Americans the law would not affect the productive
health insurance arrangements that they have,” he said. “I did not
see a problem with the administration’s statement.”

Of course he didn’t. Gruber is, after all, someone who
argued
that “lack of transparency” was key to passing the
health law. Gruber wanted the law to pass, and so despite knowing
that the administration’s statement was inaccurate, he did not see
it as a problem. 

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