Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber has lost his job advising Vermont on setting up its state-run healthcare system,
Fox News reports.
The MIT economist has been under fire since videos emerged of him early last week acknowledging that the Affordable Care Act was passed because it was written with language to obfuscate the fact that people were being taxed.
That, along with Gruber's saying the crafters relied on "the stupidity of the American voter," has caused a backlash. Five Republican members of the Vermont General Assembly called on Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin to cancel Gruber's contract.
On Wednesday, Shumlin's spokesman Lawrence Miller said in a prepared statement that Gruber's comments "are offensive, inappropriate and do not reflect the thinking of this administration or how we do things in Vermont . . . As we have also said, we need solid economic modeling in order to move forward with healthcare reform."
Miller said he told Gruber "that I expect his team to complete the work that we need to provide the legislature and Vermonters with a public healthcare financing plan. I've informed Mr. Gruber that we will not be paying him any further for his part in completing that work."
Gruber already has been paid $160,000 of his $400,000-plus contract. Members of his staff, who make $100 an hour, unlike Gruber's $500 an hour, will continue the work, Fox News Channel reported.
Fox News reported that it was Gruber who resigned from the job, saying he had become a toxic figure.
Shumlin, meanwhile, may have been seeking to distance himself from Gruber. He beat a little-known Republican challenger on Nov. 4 by only 1 percentage point, and since neither received 50 percent of the vote, the state legislature will decide on Jan. 8 who the next governor will be.
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