Gov. Peter Shumlin said comments made by an MIT professor working for the state are “reprehensible,” but it’s too late to find someone else to complete his work on the economic impact of single-payer financing options.
“I am caught between a rock and hard place. I have a man who has made comments about all of us, the American public, that I find reprehensible,” Shumlin said Tuesday. “I also have to do the economic work, the modeling, that only made sense in order to present a plan to the Legislature.”
Jonathan Gruber, who was awarded a $450,000 state contract, drew national headlines for comments he made that imply the Affordable Care Act’s passage relied on deception.
At a health economics conference in 2013, Gruber said on videotape: “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage, and basically, you know, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass.”
Those and other comments, some made when Gruber was testifying before the Vermont Legislature in 2011, have led to a chorus of Republican lawmakers and others calling for the state to fire him.
Shumlin defended Gruber’s hiring, saying that despite the comments, he is still the best person for the job.
Shumlin said he knows of no person in Vermont who has the skills the administration needed to analyze the economic impacts of shifting from a premium-based system to public financing to pay for health care.
Even if there were, the state is too far along in the process to change economists now, two months before the governor is expected to present his plan to the Legislature.
“It is too late to turn to someone else and say ‘do that work for us,’” Shumlin said.
Gruber’s job is to develop an economic model; not the policy behind the financing mechanisms, Shumlin said.
“This is not someone that is driving our policy here in Vermont, the person driving our health care policy here in Vermont is me, the governor,” he said.
But the MIT professor’s $450,000 contract (attached below) includes “policy expertise” and research in addition to the modeling. Gruber’s contract expires in February and state officials have said it will likely not be renewed.
The governor repeatedly cast Gruber as part of an organization, although the state’s contract is with Gruber personally, not a consulting firm or other entity.
“There are very few people that do the kind of economic modeling — or very few organizations — that do the type of economic modeling that this group does,” Shumlin said.
“I don’t think anyone doubts their skills, we doubt his credibility in terms of the way he says things and thinks things about the American public.”
Gruber’s apparent disdain for transparency is “diametrically opposed” to the process Shumlin envisions when he releases his plan for publicly financed health care, he said.
The administration will seek the input of lawmakers, the public and “anyone who will help us make it better,” he said.
But Shumlin has delayed making the details of his financing plan public this year, saying it wasn’t ready. During that time, the governor continued to have closed-door meetings with business leaders on an advisory council.
He also rebuffed public records requests, even from lawmakers, seeking greater insight into his process.
After his near defeat in the Nov. 4 election, Shumlin has talked more about being inclusive going forward, and renewed that pledge Tuesday.
“We want as much public engagement as we can get,” he said.
