Speaking at an academic conference at the University of Pennsylvania in October 2013, Gruber said the law was written so as to not entice the Congressional Budget Office to determine that the mandate that everyone be required to have health insurance is a tax, and to hide the idea that healthy people mandated to have coverage are subsidizing coverage of sick people.

“Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage,” Gruber said on the video. “Basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter, or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get the thing passed.”

He would have preferred the law passed with more transparency, Gruber added, “but I would rather have this law than not.”