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 Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight
Committee, said panel members will ask consultant Jonathan Gruber
about possible deceptions and a lack of transparency in the 2010
Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
Republicans have seized on videos in which Gruber, a healthcare
economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an
Obamacare consultant, says the law was written in a "very tortured
way" to hide taxes, and passed thanks to "the stupidity of the
American voter."
Issa said the public deserved an explanation from Gruber at
Tuesday's hearing.
"If you can't trust what he says, and what he says he'll do, to get
votes and trick the American people into voting for something, then
can you trust his analytics?" Issa said of Gruber.
 "It is our job to see that the administration is working to run the
country and that they are reporting honestly their successes and
their failures,” he told Reuters.
Republicans say Gruber's comments show the administration deceived
Americans as it pushed the law through Congress. Americans For
Prosperity, a group backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, used
Gruber's comments to attack Democrat Mary Landrieu in the runoff for
the Louisiana Senate race.
Democrats have distanced themselves from Gruber. Obama referred to
him as "some adviser who never worked on our staff" who "expressed
an opinion that I completely disagree with."
Representative Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House
Oversight panel, called Gruber's comments "very unfortunate." He
said he would use the hearing to talk about the benefits of
Obamacare.
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"To spend hours upon hours of time trying to get (Gruber) to explain
himself, to me it does not insure one more person, it does not help
heal anybody, and it doesn't do anybody any good. We're wasting our
time," Cummings said.
Republicans also want to question an administration official about
inflated enrollment figures for Obamacare.
Marilyn Tavenner, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service
administrator, testified to Issa's panel in September that 7.3
million people had signed up for coverage, but those numbers were
too high by about 400,000. She has been called backon Tuesday to
explain what happened.
(Reporting by Susan Cornwell and Roberta Rampton; Editing by John
Whitesides and David Gregorio)
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