To: Bill who wrote (883849 ) 8/31/2015 4:13:29 PM From: Wharf Rat Read Replies (1) | Respond to As somebody once said, "It doesn’t matter if Congress thinks Jon Gruber is dumb. It matters if the Supreme Court thinks he’s smart."The New Republic : "The Obamacare Debate Was One Of The Most Transparent In Recent Memory." In his article on Gruber's comments, Beutler also explained that Gruber was wrong in his claims that the cost sharing tradeoffs in the ACA weren't publicly discussed. In fact, Beutler asserted that the ACA "actually stands out for how much it was debated, and, for the most part, how transparent that debate was" (emphasis added):[H]is suggestion that the key cost-sharing tradeoffs weren't widely discussed just isn't true. The idea that healthy people as well as sick people needed to participate in the system was central to the moral argument for the mandate, and figured heavily in the substantive debate over how much more insurers should be able to charge the elderly than the young. The risk-rating tussle is illustrative, because it was the rule, rather than the exception to the long legislative tug-of-war over the broader ACA. Conservatives have always said the health care law wasn't debated, that it was rammed through, nobody read it, etc, etc. But it actually stands out for how much it was debated, and, for the most part, how transparent that debate was. Which in turn explains how difficult it was to pass. [The New Republic , 11/12/14 ] Senate Held Years Of Bipartisan Hearings On Health Care Reform Before ACA Passed. Former Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) posted a timeline of his committee's work on health care reform since 2008, which included more than a dozen hearings through 2008-09 and "31 bipartisan meetings to discuss the development of a health care reform bill" between June and September of 2009. [Senate.gov, accessed 11/12/14 ]Sen. Angus King (I-ME) : "There Was Long Debate About It On Both Sides." Responding to Gruber's comments, Sen. Angus King emphasized that there was much debate before the health care reform law passed:"I certainly don't endorse those kind of comments. But I can recall that debate. I wasn't in office. [I]t was a very vigorous debate," King said when asked about Gruber's comments. "Everybody knew that there were going to be additional taxes required to support the support for premiums under the Affordable Care Act. I don't see it as any deep, dark conspiracy. There were all kinds of -- there was long debate about it on both sides." [The Washington Post , Post Politics, 11/11/14 ]mediamatters.org
