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U.S. President Barack Obama said on Sunday that Russia would remain in isolation in the international community if President Vladimir Putin continues to violate international law in Ukraine. (Reuters)

BRISBANE, Australia President Obama dismissed renewed criticism of his signature health care law Sunday and disputed an assertion from a former architect of the policy who claimed the administration had deceived lawmakers.

Jonathan Gruber, an economist, suggested last year that the administrations signature health-care legislation passed in part because of the stupidity of the American voter and a lack of transparency over its funding mechanisms.

I just heard about this, Obama said at a new conference, after wrapping up two days of meetings with world leaders here at the G-20 Summit. The fact that some adviser who never worked on our staff expressed his opinion that I completely disagree with it is no reflection on the actual process that was run.

It marked the first time Obama has weighed in on the video, which became public after he left Washington for a week-long trip to Asia. Gruber is an MIT economics professor and health care policy expert who was a paid consultant for the Obama administration on the Affordable Care Act.

His remarks were captured on a video that recently surfaced on social media and have been seized on by Republicans who want to dismantle the law. Conservatives in both chambers of Congress said they might call on Gruber to testify on Capitol Hill, a process that would reopen the ugly political fight over a law that has already enrolled millions of Americans in new health care plans.

We had a year-long debate, Obama said. Go look back at your stories. One thing we cant say is that we didnt have a lengthy debate over health care in the United States. Every press outlet here should go back and pull up every clip and every story. Its fair to say there is not a provision in the health care law that was not extensively debated and was not fully transparent.

In a news conference that touched on several diverse topics, Obama also spoke for the first time about his face-to-face meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders, whose relations have turned icy over Russian support for Ukrainian separatists, spoke informally several times at an economic forum in Beijing last week and at the G-20 Summit in Brisbane.

Obama called the discussions business-like, and said he warned Putin that if he continues down the path that he is on ... the isolation that Russia is currently experiencing will continue.

On Syria, Obama reiterated that his thinking had not changed over his refusal to send in U.S. ground troops to fight in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq. The president has authorized an increase in troops to act in support and advisory roles in the Middle East, but he said suggestions that his military advisers are requesting U.S. forces to fight on the front lines is wrong.

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Obama dismisses renewed criticism of health care law