Economist Was Under Contract With HHS While Touting Health Reform Bill

MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, one of the leading academic defenders of health care reform, is taking heat for failing to disclose consistently that he was under contract with the Department of Health and Human Services while he was touting the Democrats' health proposals in the media.

Gruber, according to federal government documents, is under a $297,600 contract until next month to provide "technical assistance" in evaluating health care reform proposals. He was under a $95,000 HHS contract before that.

But while he was being paid to provide his services to HHS, he was also fending off health care reform critics in the media. Gruber was one of the prominent analysts to rebut an insurance industry report from PricewaterhouseCoopers in October saying premiums would shoot up if a health care bill passes. And he has recently written columns defending specific provisions in the House and Senate bills, particularly the "Cadillac tax" on high-cost insurance plans.

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The fallout from the disclosure that the economist Jonathan Gruber was a paid consultant to the Obama administration deepened today, with the New York Times suggesting that Gruber had been "obligated" to tell the paper of the relationship for a July, 12 op-ed, and did not:

On July 12, the Op-Ed page published an article by Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at M.I.T., on health insurance and taxation. On Friday, Professor Gruber confirmed reports that he is a paid consultant to the Department of Health and Human Services, and that his contract was in effect when he published his article. The article did not disclose this relationship to readers.

Like other writers for the Op-Ed page, Professor Gruber signed a contract that obligated him to tell editors of such a relationship. Had editors been aware of Professor Gruber’s government ties, the Op-Ed page would have insisted on disclosure or not published his article.

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The situation is complicated, but it's worth exploring because Gruber isn't just another academic being quoted. He was, at crucial times in the debate, the apparently independent voice vouching for the administration's credibility.

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Councilman said:

The time to be shocked or surprised about the level of lies and corruption behind this phony Health Care "Reform" nonsense has long past.

The Liberals have lied about it from the syart with Obama the leader of the pack of liars.

They are about taking over your very life and forcing you to do as you are told because you are too stupid to think for yourself.

It will soon be too late to stop them if people don't wake up.

Liberals are going to suffer right anong with everyone else but are so far too damn dumb to see what they are allowing to happen in their name.

I would say it's sad but truth is it is going to be tragic in the end.

The last time a person like Obama got his way millions died. I can only pray that he is stopped peacefully before he reaches his ultimate goals.

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RightinNYC said:

To be clear, I don't think that this has anything to do with Obama or the Democrats as a whole, as I very much doubt that they told this guy to lie. I think this guy is incredibly dishonest for not disclosing the contracts.

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RightinNYC said:

To be clear, I don't think that this has anything to do with Obama or the Democrats as a whole, as I very much doubt that they told this guy to lie. I think this guy is incredibly dishonest for not disclosing the contracts.

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rathi said:

Its pretty sad that you can trace the opinion of many "experts" simply by following money.

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Redress said:

I wish I could be shocked by this, but this has been going on for so long I don't have any shock left in me.

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