Gruber Explains Some More Obamacare Stuff To Stupid Americans.

Just when you thought Jonathan Gruber's revelations about Obamacare were all out in the open,  it turns out there's more.

According to that sourcelink, and a 2009 policy brief, Gruber said that Obamacare would "definitely not be affordable" when he was helping draft the bill with the White House. This was, of course, riiiiiiiiiiiight around the time that Obama was insisting to Americans that Obamacare would cause premiums to go down.

Gruber said that Obamacare had no cost controls in it, but, you know, who needs 'em?  He said, in his 2009 lecture (emphasis mine), "The problem is it starts to go hand in hand with the mandate; you can’t mandate insurance that’s not affordable. This is going to be a major issue. So what’s different this time? Why are we closer than we’ve ever been before? Because there are no cost controls in these proposals. Because this bill’s about coverage. Which is good! Why should we hold 48 million uninsured people hostage to the fact that we don’t yet know how to control costs in a politically acceptable way? Let’s get the people covered and then let’s do cost control.”

Typical liberal thinking.  Who cares how we can pay for it?  We want it, so let's have it, and someone else can deal with the pesky issue of costs later.

But Gruber also said some stuff I actually agree with.  Specifically, "There’s no reason the American health care system can’t be, ‘You can have whatever you want, you just have to pay for it.’ That’s what we do in other walks of life. We don’t say everyone has to have a large screen TV. If you want a large screen TV, you have to pay for it. Basically the notion would be to move to a level where everyone has a solid basic insurance level of coverage. Above that people pay on their own, without tax-subsidized dollars, to buy a higher level of coverage.”

I absolutely agree with that. I agree with the idea of people being responsible in some way for their own healthcare.  The problem is, of course, that there needs to be a definition of "basic insurance level of coverage." And that's where I tend to disagree entirely with liberals, who believe stuff like abortions and birth control are examples of "basic" care. If you really want to how I feel about healthcare, you can revisit the massive rant I had about it right here.

Gruber also said, "I wish that President Obama could have stood up and said, ‘You know, I don’t know if this bill is going to control costs. It might, it might not. We’re doing our best. But let me tell you what it’s going to do…' If he could make that speech? Instead, he says ‘I’m going to pass a bill that will lower your health care costs.’ That sells. Now, I wish the world was different. I wish people cared about the 50 million uninsured in America…But, you know, they don’t. And I think, once again, I’m amazed politically that we got this bill through.”

I have no idea why he's amazed.  After all, Americans who wanted Obamacare are completely stupid.  I think that's been well-established.  BY HIM.

And according to this, EIGHTY SEVEN PERCENT of people who just signed up for Obamacare are getting subsidies from you and me in order to have coverage.  Meanwhile, there are plenty of hard-working Americans who can barely afford their health insurance coverage, who are being forced to subsidize, through their taxes, coverage for other people.  Awesome, huh?

I'm so glad this administration has been so open and forthright and transparent about Obamacare, aren't you?