Health care economist Jonathan Gruber has agreed to forgo roughly $120,000 in compensation from the state.
Lawrence Miller, chief of health care reform, said on Wednesday that Gruber’s comments denigrating the public and suggesting that passage of the Affordable Care Act relied on deception has damaged his credibility in Vermont. Gruber was hired to create economic models for single-payer financing options.
Miller spoke with Gruber this week, whom he described as “profoundly apologetic,” to ask that he donate his time to complete the work for Vermont.
Gruber said in an email that he had no comment on the agreement.
Miller said he didn’t seek the pay cut to appease Republican lawmakers, who have called for the dismissal of the MIT economist.
“His comments were equal opportunity offenders,” Miller said.
Gruber’s $400,000 contract with the state runs through Feb. 15. It contains an additional $50,000 for support work from Moody’s Analytics, which the state will pay.
Gruber has been paid $160,000 so far, which Miller said is split roughly 50-50 between Gruber and his team of research associates.
Those associates will continue to be compensated for their work, and the state anticipates paying them $120,000 more through the life of the contract. Gruber agreed to let the state keep his half, Miller said. If the project comes in under budget, the savings could be less than $120,000.
Sen. Kevin Mullin, R-Rutland, was among the Republicans calling for Gruber to be fired, but said Wednesday he is pleased with Miller’s efforts.
“It’s the best outcome Lawrence Miller could have negotiated at this time,” Mullin said. But he added that Gruber’s work is compromised and must be vetted by other economists working for the Legislature and the administration.
“The money (Miller) was able to negotiate is going to have to be reinvested in further economic analysis in order for there to be transparency and for people to have faith in this process,” Mullin said. That could cost the state more than the $120,000 it’s likely to save on Gruber’s contract, he said.
Gruber’s comments about the Affordable Care Act, on which he consulted for the Obama White House, raised a firestorm among the national media this week and has led some to question whether he believes in a transparent political process.
Gruber said in remarks at the University of Pennsylvania last year that the federal law was written in a “tortured way to make sure the Congressional Budget Office didn’t score the mandate as taxes.”
“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” Gruber went on. “Call it the stupidity of the American voter, or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass.”
Miller and Gov. Peter Shumlin have condemned those remarks but maintain that Gruber’s modeling work cannot be conducted by another economist.
