Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) gained notoriety in Congress because of his staunch opposition to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Now that the senator’s wife is taking a leave of absence from her position at Goldman Sachs to work on his presidential campaign, the Cruz family will lose their health insurance and will sign up for coverage under the ACA federal exchange, reported CNN.
“We’ll be getting new health insurance and we’ll presumably do it through my job with the Senate, and so we’ll be on the federal exchange with million of others on the federal exchange,” Cruz told CNN’s Dana Bash.
In an effort to dismantle the ACA, Cruz led Congressional Republicans on a fight that caused the 16-day long government shutdown in 2013. This development comes as a deep stroke of hypocrisy considering how opposed the Texas senator is to the ACA. However, Cruz says he still opposes the ACA and will continue to fight it. That fight will come peppered with lies about the ACA, of course.
“[The ACA] has forced millions of people into part time work,” said Cruz. “It caused millions of people to lose their insurance, to lose their doctors and to face skyrocketing insurance premiums.”
That’s an interesting claim considering how the national uninsured rate has consistently decreased. While on CNN for a post-interview recap, Bash discussed Cruz’s possible alternatives to getting insurance through the ACA. She mentioned purchasing private health insurance, which Cruz has decided against. Cruz’s decision created some speculation that maybe insurance through the ACA is actually more affordable.
If that’s the case, if Cruz was so opposed to the “disaster” that is the ACA, then his principles wouldn’t curtail him from spending a little extra money on private insurance. He can surely afford it, as well as his wife who has all that Goldman Sachs money. The ACA was an affordable option, and Cruz bought in. So much for his Republican integrity.