Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber has billed federal and state governments at least $5.9 million for advice, as more videos surface showing him undercutting the landmark law

11/16/2014

MIT economist got $392,600 from the Dept of Health and Human Services for his Obamacare consulting

National Institutes of Health paid him $2 million for Medicare consulting

Justice Department has added $1.7 million for expert witness testimony

 Four US states combined to pay him another $1.6 million for advice about health care laws, and contracts for four more states were unavailable

If those states followed suit, Gruber's haul would exceed $7.5 million 

Gruber has become a thorn in Democrats' sides since videos emerged of him candidly discussing how the Obama White House misled Americans to pass the Obamacare law 

Four U.S. states and the federal government have padded Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber's wallet to the tune of $5.9 million since 2000, including millions connected to his work on the Affordable Care Act.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist has been pilloried for collecting $392,600 from the Obama administration's Health and Human Services Department while the law was being written, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Gruber's consulting contracts give states and the feds access to a proprietary formula that can determine how changes in a health care system's structure will affect costs.

The 'Gruber Microsimulation Model' is what he sold to the White House. It helped Obama's team anticipate what the influential Congressional Budget Office (CBO) would say about various features of the final plan – and whether their costs would officially be considered 'taxes.'

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THE LATEST VIDEO: Jonathan Gruber told a Virginia healthcare research company in 2012 that he helped Massachusetts 'rip off' the feds for $400 million per year by shifting Medicare funds to cover the uninsured – and 'Romneycare' was born

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Better days: In May 2009 Gruber was testifying before congressional panels as a respected economist with the magic touch and the ear of every Democrat in Washington

Gruber found himself in hot water this week when an old video surfaced in which he explains how the Obama administration wriggled out of legislative trouble by hiding 'Cadillac taxes' on expensive medical insurance policies – by shifting the costs to insurers and trusting them to pass the financial burden on to their customers.

'The stupidity of the American voter' let him get away with it, he said in one videotaped speech at the University of Pennsylvania.

Gruber explained that the Obamacare law 'was written in a tortured way to make sure the CBO did not score the [individual insurance] mandate as taxes.'

'If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies.'

The Washingon Post reported Friday that the National Institutes of Health put about $2.05 million in Gruber's pocket since 2008 for consulting work related to Medicare Part D prescription drug plans.

The Justice Department has added $1.7 million more – mostly for 'expert witness' testimony – since 2000.

And the State Department paid Gruber $103,500 in 2008 and 2009 for what the government vaguely calls legal services, according to an analysis by The Daily Caller.

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