share on twitter 




with premiums set to spike dramatically in 2017, mit economist and so-called obamacare <u+201c>architect<u+201d> jonathan gruber shared his big idea to fix the struggling health care law during an interview on cnn wednesday. 




<u+201c>once again, there<u+2019>s no sense in which this has to be fixed. the law is working as designed, however it could work better,<u+201d> gruber said. <u+201c>i think probably the most important thing experts would agree on is that we need a larger mandate penalty.<u+201d> 




so gruber<u+2019>s idea is to make it more expensive for people choosing to incur the <u+201c>mandate penalty<u+201d> in order to nudge them to enroll in obamacare and take on higher premiums. the theory is that as more people enroll, the associated costs will go down. 




you might remember gruber from a 2014 video in which he bragged about the obama administration was able to take advantage of the <u+201c>stupidity of the american voter<u+201d> to get obamacare passed. 




<u+201c>lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,<u+201d> he said in the video. <u+201c>call it the stupidity of the american voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get anything to pass.<u+201d> 




on several occasions, gruber has been captured on video talking about exploiting american voters <u+201c>lack of economic understanding.<u+201d> 




the obama administration admitted on monday that obamacare premiums for mid-level benchmark plans will increase by 25 percent on average across the country. further, 20 percent of consumers will also have just one insurer to select from. 




republican presidential nominee donald trump has vowed to <u+201c>repeal and replace<u+201d> obamacare with a new plan to provide <u+201d>great health care at a fraction of the cost.<u+201d> he has offered few details on what that plan would entail. 




hillary clinton has promised to build on obamacare and enact fixes rather than trashing the entire program.
obamacare architect asked how to 'fix' the program. his answer reinforces critics' worst fears.
jason howerton