Rep Gerry Connolly turns lemons into lemonade
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) must be praised. He is a congressman that came prepared not only to interrogate the witnesses but to ensure that he gets relevant information out from witnesses.
Rep. Darrell Issa decided to call a hearing because of videos that surfaced where Obamacare adviser Jonathan Gruber made in-artful comments about the process of getting the law passed. Rep. Gerry Connolly ensured that the kangaroo hearing would get actual information out instead of the constant Republican demagoguery, lies, and misinformation.
Rep. Gerry Connolly asked very specific questions. “Romneycare was the model for Obamacare is that not true Dr. Guber?” Dr. Jonathan Gruber affirmed that was true.
Rep. Gerry Connolly then asked whether Romneycare applied a fine or tax just like Obamacare for those who could afford health insurance but refused to get it. Again Dr. Gruber affirmed the statement.
When Rep. Connolly asked what happened to the uninsured population, whether the costs went up or the insurance rate went up, Dr. Gruber stated that it fell to 3% and costs went down. In fact he said that Massachusetts has the lowest uninsurance rate in the nation.
Rep. Gerry Connolly also reminded the hearing that it was said that the modest fines would cause employers to throw all their employees onto the health exchanges, in other words, drop their employee health coverage. Dr. Gruber said the opposite actually occurred. More employers offered insurance. In fact it rose by 10%.
Ultimately Dr. Jonathan Gruber said that his statements were misrepresented. He never meant to imply that citizens of states not setting up exchanges did not qualify for subsidies. In fact all his modelling and all government modelling assumed every citizen could qualify for subsidies based on their individual economic condition whether their state setup exchanges or not.