Free Republic

The University of Pennsylvania which had originally posted this has now pulled down the video from their site. But this is an attempt on the part of Jonathan Gruber and company to pull their pants up after they got caught. I think it's comical that these people still believe they can say whatever they want in public, but then flip out if anyone quotes them. It also appears that the Snopes.com mafia has been called in to cast doubt upon the incident as conservatives have reported it. They call this claim a Mixture of true and false. Here's their lame...

The federal government said Tuesday it will soon move to close a loophole in Obamacare that could allow big employers to refuse to cover employees' hospitalizations. That loophole is significant because hospital-stay costs can quickly become high. The loophole is linked to Obamacare rules that will require mid- to large-size employers starting in 2015 to offer affordable health plans to employers or pay a fine.

"The IRS last month posted drafts of its new forms for the 2014 tax year. These should by no means be considered complete – Congress can often keep meddling with the tax code deep into December – but looking at the draft 1040 can remind us of the changes ahead. Here are four lines from the 2014 1040 that reflect changes....... Line 61 – “Health care: individual responsibility (see instructions):” This is the much-talked-about individual mandate. The fee for not having health insurance in 2014 is 1% of your yearly income or $95, whichever is higher. The payment amount will...

So the number "13" apparently is bad luck for Obamacare, too. Federal officials on Monday sought to lower expectations for upcoming enrollment in Obamacare, announcing that they now believe that only between 9 million and 9.9 million people will be enrolled in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans by the end of 2015. That is well below the 13 million people that the Congressional Budget Office has projected for Obamacare enrollment by the end of 2015. Open enrollment for 2015 plans resumes Saturday. The new projection, more than 30 percent reduced from the CBO estimate, comes from the Health and...

After repeatedly shifting the deadline for the end of ObamacareÂ’s open enrollment period in past spring, the White House crowed when it determined it had finally reached its goal of enrolling 8 million Americans in Affordable Care Act-associated insurance plans. Few in the press made mention of the administrationÂ’s downward revision of that figure in October from 8.1 to 7.1 million Obamacare enrollees. DonÂ’t expect many in the administration or the media to make much of another revision of the estimated number of projected Obamacare insurance customers for this yearÂ’s open enrollment period. Anticipating slightly less than 6 million...

"Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. Call it the stupidity of the American voter, or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass." That was MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, one of the key architects of ObamaCare, explaining how ObamaCare was purposefully designed to obfuscate how it was financed, how the subsidies worked and other unpleasant features of the law. [snip] Gruber's comments, made at a 2013 conference but just now making the rounds on the Internet, are the polar opposite of what Democrats promised the public.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Have you seen or heard the audio snippet of the actual author of Obamacare? His name is Jonathan Gruber. He is a professor at MIT, a professor of economics. He wrote both Romneycare and he wrote Obamacare. "Oh, yeah, he's a brilliant, smart guy! Oh, totally smart guy." Almost a year ago, in October of 2013, he was in Philadelphia speaking at the 24th Annual Health Economics Conference, and he spoke about Obamacare and how and what they had to do to make it a reality. I want you to listen to how this prominent Democrat, prominent...

In a video that surfaced on Friday, economist and Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber said “lack of transparency” and “stupidity of the American voter” were “critical” to passing the president’s unpopular health care law. “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” Gruber said. “Call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever. But basically, that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass.” Gruber added that he wished “we could make it all transparent,” but said the bill would not have passed if not for the administration’s art of deception on key features of the law. “This...

Meet Jonathan Gruber, a professor at MIT and an architect of Obamacare. During panel event last year about how the legislation passed, turning over a sixth of the U.S. economy to the government, Gruber admitted that the Obama administration went through "tortuous" measures to keep the facts about the legislation from the American people, including covering up the redistribution of wealth from the healthy to the sick in the legislation that Obamacare is in fact a tax. The video of his comments just recently surfaced ahead of the second open enrollment period for Obamacare at Healthcare.gov. "You can't do it...

In a newly surfaced video, one of Obamacare’s architects admits a “lack of transparency” helped the Obama administration and congressional Democrats pass the Affordable Care Act. The conservative group American Commitment posted Jonathan Gruber’s remarks, reportedly from an Oct. 17, 2013, event, on YouTube. “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” says the MIT economist who helped write Obamacare. “And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical for the thing to pass.”

Here to Stay: Why the New Republican Congress Can't Gut Obamacare BY MAGGIE FOX Republicans may have promised to repeal or at least do a big makeover of Obamacare now that they control both the House and the Senate, but most experts believe it’s lip service only. The 2010 Affordable Care Act is in full force across the country, with internet-based health insurance exchanges up and running, expanded Medicaid in 28 states and strict new requirements for health insurers. Here are five reasons the GOP-led Congress won’t be able to change much. The veto. This is the big one: President...

The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will hear a lawsuit challenging an arbitrary IRS decision to issue tax credits and penalties through federally created Obamacare exchanges. Two federal courts have already declared the regulation unconstitutional, but a third court ruled that the IRS has acted within its authority. It was this ruling by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals that prompted the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell to file an appeal with the high court. If the Supreme Court rules against the Obama administration in this case, it could well be the undoing of the reviled health care...

After sweeping the electoral map on Tuesday, the Republican Party has a clear, historically powerful mandate from the American people: stop Obama and his healthcare takeover.And there’s a clear plan to do just that.In an election night interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz outlined exactly how a Republican majority can begin to deconstruct Obamacare to help those hurt worst by the law.First, use reconciliation to repeal the bill. When Obama vetoes that, then proceed to remove the most onerous portions of Obamacare.For example, codify an add-on to the law stating that people can’t lose their insurance...

“Health care inflation has gone down every single year since the law [the Affordable Care Act] passed, so that we now have the lowest increase in health care costs in 50 years–which is saving us about $180 billion in reduced overall costs to the federal government and in the Medicare program.” – President Obama, news conference, Nov. 5, 2014 When making a claim like this, the president needs to get his statistics right. Uttering this claim without any caveats is going too far, even when making allowances for the fact he is speaking extemporaneously. The president earns Three Pinocchios.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to take up a new challenge to the Affordable Care Act, a move that will again thrust the law into a high-profile battle before the high court.The Supreme Court's move is somewhat surprising, considering there is still no split in the lower, circuit courts. But the high court agreed to King v. Burwell, a case in which the Fourth Circuit court upheld an IRS rule that extends the distribution of health insurance subsidies to states served by the federal insurance marketplace.The challenge to the law is viewed as having the potential to cripple Obamacare in...

House Speaker John Boehner and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, outlining their legislative vision for the last two years of Barack Obama’s presidency, are vowing to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act. The Republican House speaker from Ohio and incoming Senate majority leader from Kentucky noted that a commitment to creating jobs “means renewing our commitment to repeal Obamacare, which is hurting the job market along with Americans’ health care.” The ACA remains a politically divisive issue, and further attempts at repeal would surely be met with significant Democratic opposition and a White House veto.

More than 25,000 federal employees will lose their health plans next year as insurance providers drop out of the government’s coverage network, according to the Office of Personnel Management. Affected workers will have the option of switching to other plans within the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, but the number of disruptions will reach the highest level since more than 61,000 enrollees had to change plans in 2009. Insurance providers drop out of the federal workforce’s health program every year, so this year’s changes are nothing new. Companies generally leave the network because they have not attracted enough enrollees to...

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is planning to make ObamaCare a priority in his first weeks as leader of the Senate, vowing a sustained effort to dismantle the law piece-by-piece. Instead of a full repeal, McConnell said the GOP will tackle unpopular aspects of the law such as the individual mandate, the medical device tax and the 30-hour workweek requiring employers to provide insurance. “These are the kinds of things that I believe there is a bipartisan majority in the Senate to approve,” he said in the interview with Time magazine published Wednesday. The only other priority he listed was the...

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to hear a new challenge to President Barack Obama's health care law. The justices said they will decide whether the law authorizes subsidies that help millions of low- and middle-income people afford their health insurance premiums. A federal appeals court upheld Internal Revenue Service regulations that allow health-insurance tax credits under the Affordable Care Act for consumers in all 50 states. Opponents argue that most of the subsidies are illegal.

(CNSNews.com) - Every newly elected GOP senator who won in last night’s election campaigned on repealing Obamacare. Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Sen Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) all ran on a platform of repealing Obamacare. Gardner touted patient-centered care and a full repeal and replacement of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare. “Small businesses and the American people cannot afford President Obama’s countless new regulations and tax increases. There is...