Obama dismisses health-law criticism - Philly.com

Washington Post

Posted: Monday, November 17, 2014, 1:08 AM

BRISBANE, Australia - President Obama dismissed renewed criticism of his signature health-care law Sunday and disputed an assertion from a former adviser involved in its creation who said the administration had deceived lawmakers.

Jonathan Gruber, an economist, suggested last year that the legislation passed in part because of the "stupidity of the American voter" and a "lack of transparency" in its funding mechanisms.

"I just heard about this," Obama said at a news conference after wrapping up two days of meetings with world leaders at the Group of 20 summit. "The fact that some adviser who never worked on our staff expressed his opinion that I completely disagree with - it is no reflection on the actual process that was run."

It was the first time Obama had weighed in on the comments, which became public after he left Washington for a week-long trip to Asia.

Gruber is an MIT economics professor and health-care policy expert who was a paid consultant for the Obama administration on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). His remarks were captured last year in a video that recently circulated widely on social media, and they have been seized upon by Republicans who want to dismantle the law.

Later Sunday, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said 100,000 people submitted applications for coverage under the ACA on Saturday, the first day of the law's second enrollment period. Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, she said that more than 500,000 people were able to log on to the government's website, HealthCare.gov, and that more than a million people have been "window shopping" for insurance options.

Also Sunday, Washington state's health insurance exchange was back up and running after shutting down for a day because of a glitch involving tax credit calculations, the Associated Press reported.

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