In 2010, the state of Wisconsin, under Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, paid Gruber $400,000 to do a study of the impact of healthcare reform. By the time Gruber finished his report, Republican Scott Walker had been elected governor and wasn’t much interested in using Gruber’s study. “State officials did not invite Gruber to Wisconsin for the release of his study nor did they set up a conference call with him for reporters or even provide them with his contact information,” the Madison, Wis., Capital Times reported. “That is unusual for an important report like this, which cost $400,000.”
In the two years between March 2011 and March 2013, the state of Minnesota paid Gruber $329,000 to study how to make its exchange conform with Affordable Care Act requirements.
In 2012, the state of West Virginia signed a contract with Gruber to study its healthcare system. “The state will pay MIT professor Jonathan Gruber $121,500 to understand the states health insurance landscape and revisit key assumptions about state health care policy,” the Charleston Daily Mail reported in September of that year. “Gruber is a policy rock star of sorts. He’s advised more than a half dozen states on health care reform.”
In November 2011, the state of Vermont hired a consulting firm that used Gruber to study the state exchange. Gruber was paid at least $91,875 for his work.
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