A fourth video has reportedly emerged in which former White House consultant Jonathan Gruber casts an unflattering light on the administration’s strategy to pass ObamaCare.
The latest clip, which was reported Thursday by CNN, shows Gruber speaking to an audience of college students about the White House’s communication on its signature healthcare law.
{mosads}He suggested that officials used a misleading message that focused on how the legislation would lower healthcare costs even though it hadn’t been proven to do so. He also said the cost component of the law was a small fraction of the legislation.
“Barack Obama’s not a stupid man, OK?” Gruber said, according to CNN, which has not yet aired the video. “He knew when he was running for president that quite frankly the American public doesn’t actually care that much about the uninsured.”
He said the bill is about 90 percent health insurance coverage and 10 percent about cost control, but “all you ever hear people talk about is cost control.”
The clip is from 2010, making it the oldest yet. A 2013 video that ignited the firestorm shows Gruber crediting a “lack of transparency” and “the stupidity of the American voter” for ObamaCare’s passage.
During the speech, Gruber also describes himself as a “paid consultant to the Obama administration” who “helped write the federal bill.” That is contrary to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) remarks Thursday, in which she said he did not help write the law and she “did not know” him.