--- title: Obamacare Economist Apologizes to Congress description: An MIT economist who helped model the Affordable Care Act apologized to a House committee for heavily criticized remarks he made about it. canonical: https://time.com/3625335/obamacare-economist-apologizes-to-congress-for-glib-comments/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-09T15:57:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:41:29.750Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obamacare Economist Apologizes to Congress for 'Glib' Comments og:description: An MIT economist who helped model the Affordable Care Act apologized to a House committee for heavily criticized remarks he made about it. og:url: https://time.com/3625335/obamacare-economist-apologizes-to-congress-for-glib-comments/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4befaf5001040380/69876d9fa988caa1176ab444/jonathan-gruber.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Affordable Health Care Act Consultant Jonathan Gruber Testifies Before House Committee og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obamacare Economist Apologizes to Congress for 'Glib' Comments twitter:description: An MIT economist who helped model the Affordable Care Act apologized to a House committee for heavily criticized remarks he made about it. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4befaf5001040380/69876d9fa988caa1176ab444/jonathan-gruber.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obamacare Economist Apologizes to Congress for 'Glib' Comments  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Dec 9, 2014 3:57 PM UTC  Massachusetts Institute of Technology Economics professor Jonathan Gruber prepares to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about his work on the Affordable Care Act in the Rayburn House Office building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 9, 2014. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Economics professor Jonathan Gruber prepares to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about his work on the Affordable Care Act in the Rayburn House Office building on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 9, 2014.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Dec 9, 2014 3:57 PM UTC Jonathan Gruber, the healthcare economist whose controversial comments about Obamacare have drawn fierce criticism in recent weeks, apologized Tuesday while under harsh interrogation by House Republicans. “I’m a professor of economics at MIT. I’m not a politician or a political adviser,” Gruber said in his opening statement before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He apologized for statements he called “glib, thoughtless and sometimes downright insulting.” Gruber, and supporters of the Affordable Care Act in general, [came under fire](http://time.com/3583526/the-truth-about-gruber-gate/) last month after video clips surfaced of the economist suggesting the ACA was passed in a way intended to confuse the public. “Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. Call it the stupidity of the American voter, or whatever,” he said. “I knew better, I know better, I’m embarrassed and I’m sorry,” Gruber said Tuesday. He insisted his comments were taken out of context and reflect a personal failing that should not reflect on the substance of the healthcare reform measure. “I behaved badly and I’ll have to live with that but my own inexcusable arrogance is not a flaw in the Affordable Care Act,” he said. Committee Republicans leveled a harsh and sometimes insulting interrogation against Gruber. “Are you stupid?” Committee Chairman Darrel Issa asked Gruber in his opening remarks. Issa questioned whether Gruber’s comments reflect substantive problems with the ACA and closed with a call for an independent audit of Gruber’s complex simulation model on the effect Obamacare would have on the cost of obtaining insurance, which was widely cited in debate over the ACA. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3625335/obamacare-economist-apologizes-to-congress-for-glib-comments/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3625335/obamacare-economist-apologizes-to-congress-for-glib-comments/"},"headline":"Obamacare Economist Apologizes to Congress for 'Glib' Comments","datePublished":"2014-12-09T15:57:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:41:29.750Z","description":"The MIT economist had come under fire for controversial statements on the Affordable Care Act","url":"https://time.com/3625335/obamacare-economist-apologizes-to-congress-for-glib-comments/","keywords":["Healthcare","Obamacare","house","GOP","ACA"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4befaf5001040380/69876d9fa988caa1176ab444/jonathan-gruber.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4befaf5001040380/69876d9fa988caa1176ab444/jonathan-gruber.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Affordable Health Care Act Consultant Jonathan Gruber Testifies Before House Committee","caption":"Affordable Health Care Act Consultant Jonathan Gruber Testifies Before House Committee","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/healthcare/","name":"Healthcare"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3625335/obamacare-economist-apologizes-to-congress-for-glib-comments/","name":"Obamacare Economist Apologizes to Congress for 'Glib' Comments"}}]}] ```