Obamacare architect insists Americans just 'don't understand' how much law has done for them

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber, who claimed in 2013 that the "stupidity of the American voter" helped the law to pass, now says the American people just don't understand what the Affordable Care Act has done for them.

"There's been a lot of misinformation," Gruber told Fox News' Tucker Carlson Wednesday night, saying that everyone agrees Obamacare has increased the number of Americans who now have health insurance.

"But if you ask Americans what Obamacare has done to insurance coverage, almost as many claim it has declined as gone up. I think that's the prime example of misinformation that's been spread," Gruber continued. "I think Americans just don't understand what this law has done for them."

Carlson pressed Gruber on his comments, asking if he really thinks Americans are "that dumb" that they don't know about their own health insurance. But Gruber insisted that he never said anything of the kind but rather was making the point that those who neither benefited from nor have been hurt by Obamacare have "heard a lot of misinformation" about what the law actually does.

Gruber conceded that the people who have been most disadvantaged by Obamacare are the top 2 percent and young, healthy adults, who now pay more for their health insurance in order help pay for coverage for individuals who can't afford it.

Carlson didn't stop there. He then asked Gruber why those paying more "shouldn't be annoyed that they have to pay for services they don't want or need."

Gruber called those concerns a "trivial distraction from the problem."

"They're being asked, fairly, to be in a pool with healthy and sick people," Gruber continued.

The Obamacare architect later asserted that Republicans "shouldn't villainize the entire law over these small issues."

According to a poll released earlier this month by the conservative American Action Network, a majority of Americans would like to see Obamacare completely repealed or for the law to undergo significant changes.

When participants in the same poll were asked if they would support the repeal of Obamacare as long as a replacement was simultaneously enacted, 70 percent said they would.

President Donald Trump, who based much of his campaign on the repeal and replacement of Obamacare, has said that he will work with congressional leaders to provide health insurance to more Americans than Obamacare at a lower cost.

“Here’s what I can assure you — we are going to have a better plan, much better health care, much better service treatment, a plan where you can have access to the doctor that you want and the plan that you want. We’re gonna have a much better health care plan at much less money," Trump said Wednesday, according to Raw Story.