Jonathan Gruber

Jonathan Gruber was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy in the U.S. Treasury Department, 1997-1998, during the Bill Clinton presidency. According to his website he is "a Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has taught since 1992. He is also the Director of the Health Care Program at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he is a Research Associate He is a co-editor of the Journal of Public Economics, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Health Economics. ...  During the 1997-1998 academic year, Dr. Gruber was on leave as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Treasury Department. He was a key architect of Massachusetts’ ambitious health reform effort, and in 2006 became an inaugural member of the Health Connector Board, the main implementing body for that effort. In that year, he was named the 19th most powerful person in health care in the United States by Modern Healthcare Magazine. During the 2008 he was a consultant to the Clinton, Edwards and Obama Presidential campaigns and was called by the Washington Post, 'possibly the [Democratic] party's most influential health-care expert.'"

Trudy Lieberman writes in CJR on January 28, 2010, "[T]he media relies way too much on the same sources, who utter the same thing again and again to different news outlets. The problem with this, of course, is that a particular view of the world spreads widely, perhaps reinforcing that view as the correct one—which it may or may not be, depending on the facts and on which side of the river you call home. (Jonathan) Gruber has been the cheerleader-in-chief for the Massachusetts health care plan, which is the model for federal reform. He sits on the board of the Connector, the state’s policy brokerage service, and thus has something of a vested interest in positively spinning the reform efforts there. Last year on the PBS NewsHour, he told how premiums for individuals buying their own coverage in Massachusetts had dropped dramatically. But he didn’t mention how premiums for workers in small businesses had risen to sky-high levels in order to make that possible."

Tobacco
Gruber has served as a plaintiff's expert in cases against the tobacco industry.

2010 Non-Disclosure of HHS Funding and Being a Paid Consultant to Obama Administration
On January 7, 2010, a report by Marcy Wheeler on the Firedoglake blogsite exposed Gruber's failure to reveal a $392,600.00 contract he received in June, 2009, from the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDL article forced the New York Times to issue this correction: "On July 12, the Op-Ed page published an article by Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at M.I.T., on health insurance and taxation.  ...  Had editors been aware of Professor Gruber’s government ties, the Op-Ed page would have insisted on disclosure or not published his article." FireDogLake is continuing to investigate hundreds of thousands of dollars of government funding to Gruber and has launched an online campaign around the issue. On January 13, 2010, FDL's Jane Hamsher analyzed "How the White House Used Jonathan Gruber’s Work to Orchestrate the Appearance of Broad Consensus" for it's health care reform bill. On January 17, 2010, Marcy Wheeler responded to the previous ten days of controversy that her original article spawned, with a blog titled "I Don’t Want Apologies. I Want Independent Analysis."

Contact Info for John Gruber

 * Phone: (617) 253-8892
 * Email: gruberj AT mit.edu

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Firedoglake blog
 * payola pundit
 * Third party technique
 * Wendell Potter

External resources

 * Gwen Ivens interview, Democrats Wrangle Over Taxing 'Cadillac' Insurance Plans, PBS Newshour, moderated debate between Jonathan Gruber and Josh Bivens, January 11, 2010.

External articles

 * Jonathan Gruber, A Shot in the Arm - How today’s health care reform can create tomorrow’s entrepreneurs, Washington Monthly, May/June, 2009.
 * Jonathan Gruber A Loop Hole Worth Closing, New York Times editorial page, July 11, 2009. (Note: see below 1/10/10 for NYT correction note on this article.)
 * Ronald Brownstein, A Milestone in the Health Care Journey, The Atlantic, November 21, 2009.
 * Mike Allen, MIT Analysis Backs Obama, MIT analysis backs Obama], Politico, November 28, 2009.
 * Jonathan Gruber, 'Cadillac' tax isn't a tax -- it's a plan to finance real health reform, The Washington Post, Monday, December 28, 2009.
 * Marcy Wheeler, Jonathan Gruber Failed to Disclose His $392,600 Contracts with HHS (Updated), FireDogLake, January 7, 2010.
 * Judson Berger, Economist Was Under Contract With HHS While Touting Health Reform Bill, Fox News, January 8, 2008.
 * Ronald Brownstein, On Jonathan Gruber's Conflict Of Interest, The Atlantic blog, January 8, 2010.
 * Editor, New York Times, Correction to 'A Loop Hole Worth Closing, New York Times, January 10, 2010.
 * David Dayen, Why Gruber Made His Caveat On Wages And Insurance Premiums, FireDogLake, January 10, 2010.
 * Paul Krugman, Jonathan Gruber, New York Times, January 11, 2010.
 * David Dayen, Krugman Hits FDL For Reports On Jonathan Gruber, FireDogLake, January 11, 2010.
 * Ben Smith, Krugman defends Gruber: 'No big deal', Politico, January 11, 2010.
 * Jane Hamsher, Krugman Shoots the Messenger: Blames Wheeler, FDL for Fueling “Fake Scandal” over Gruber, Firedoglake, January 11, 2010.
 * Aleksandra Kulczuga, MIT economist and federal contractor Jonathan Gruber denies conflict of interest despite advocacy for Obama health plan, The DC, January 11, 2010.
 * Jon Walker, Grassley Sends Letter to Sebelius; Seeks Explanation, Transparency on Gruber, Firedoglake, January 12, 2010.
 * Jane Hamsher, How the White House Used Jonathan Gruber’s Work to Orchestrate the Appearance of Broad Consensus, January13, 2010.
 * Thomas R. Eddlem, Govt Funds Healthcare “Reform” Push, New American, January 13, 2010.
 * Peter Roff, Shameless, Democrats Buy Covert Healthcare Propaganda, US News and World Report, January 13, 2010.
 * Grover Norquist, Another Shocking Media Double Standard, Fox News, January 13, 2010.
 * John Stauber, Where's the Outrage Over Obama's Health Care Propagandist, Jonathan Gruber?, PRWatch.org, January 14, 2010.
 * David Whelan, Gruber Aftermath: How Many Other Health Economists are on the ObamaCare Payroll?, Forbes, January 14, 2010.
 * Glenn Greenwald, Krugman, Gruber and Non-Disclosure Issues, Salon.com, January 16, 2010.
 * Marcy Wheeler, NY Times Admits Gruber Problem, Fails To Mention Krugman Problem - On Gruber: I Don’t Want Apologies. I Want Independent Analysis, Firedoglake, January 17, 2010.
 * Masaccio, The Dirty Little Secret of the Teacher Tax, [[Firedoglake] blog, January 17, 2010.
 * Not All DHHS Funding Is Equal: Why Krugman Is Wrong About Gruber (No, You Can't Have It All). MiketheMadBiologist blog, January 20, 2010.

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