Obama says he did not mislead public on ACA, spars with reform 'architect'
President Barack Obama denied charges that he mislead Americans about the healthcare reform law in order to get it passed, reports The Washington Times.
His comment was in response to Jonathan Gruber--a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who was a consultant to the Department of Health and Human Services on the Affordable Care Act--who claimed that a lack of transparency, along with the stupidity of American voters, helped pass the bill, notes The Wall Street Journal.
"The fact that some adviser who never worked on our staff expressed an opinion that I completely disagree with in terms of the voters is no reflection on the actual process that was run," President Obama said during a press conference in Brisbane, Australia, reports The WSJ.
Recently, Gruber's role in the creation of the ACA has been hotly debated. Gruber, who has been described as an "architect" of the healthcare reform law, was involved with the law early on--back in 2009, Gruber was part of a small group of economists that were invited by President Obama into the Oval Office to discuss the bill in depth, according to The Washington Post.
Gruber even developed a computer model that predicts both the costs and effects of healthcare policy changes, notes the Post.
But after Gruber's vocal opinions regarding the ACA and the supposed stupidity of American voters, White House officials were quick to reject the notion that Gruber was, in fact, an architect of reform, reports The New York Times.
Now, Republicans are using Gruber's comments to argue that that the ACA was passed to deceive the American public.
"What this insider saying confirms is that they were spinning tales from beginning to end because they knew they couldn't tell the truth about the Affordable Care Act and have a chance of passing it," said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), according to The WSJ.
For more:
- here's The Washington Times article
- check out The Wall Street Journal article
- read The Washington Post piece
- here's The New York Times article
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