Economist Jonathan Gruber, one of the architects of Obamacare, admitted in 2012 that state-run health insurance exchanges were not supposed to receive subsidies:
This is a big deal in light of the D.C. Circuit Court’s recent ruling in Halbig.
Last night, MSNBC host Chris Hayes demanded to know if any legislators expressed Gruber’s view at the time the law was debated:
The absence of any such statement, he implies, would prove that legislators could not have intended to deny subsidies to state-run exchanges.
That would be a perfectly reasonable argument if legislators had actually read and understood the bill. Of course, most did not.
Even Max Baucus, one of the bill’s lead authors, admits he never bothered to read the whole thing.
And here’s a challenge for Chris Hayes:
Yes.
