Posted on 03/25/2015 2:21:00 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Yes, Ted Cruz can buy insurance through Obamacare while remaining totally committed to repealing it. Just like his competitors for the 2016 presidential nomination.
Cruz said Tuesday that he and his family will sign up for health insurance through the exchanges created by Obamacare, prompting plenty of chest-beating from Democrats looking to paint Cruz—a staunch opponent of the health care law—as a hypocrite.
But Cruz isn't the only 2016 contender to turn to the exchanges. Sen. Rand Paul signed up when the marketplaces first opened. "It made me an unhappy person," he said at the time.
Sen. Marco Rubio also signed up for coverage through Obamacare's exchange. So did Rep. Paul Ryan. In fact, most members of Congress—yes, including the Republicans who have vowed and voted so many times to repeal the Affordable Care Act—use the exchanges.
So, why are so many of Obamacare's critics covered through Obamacare? Some critics have called Cruz a hypocrite for "going on Obamacare" while continuing to beat the drum for repeal. But Cruz and other Republicans aren't secretly starting to like Obamacare—they've simply backed themselves into a corner where the exchanges are the most rational choice.
"Senator Rubio is following the law, even though he opposes it," a spokeswoman told the Tampa Bay Times when he first signed up.
First of all, let's be clear that Cruz is not "on Obamacare." There is no such thing as being "on Obamacare." It's not an insurance plan, or a single program like Medicare or Social Security. Cruz, Rubio, Ryan, Paul and the 11.7 million other Americans who have used the exchanges are all on private insurance plans, and there are hundreds of them to choose from.
But that's about where the similarities end. Cruz—and Rubio and Ryan and all the rest of lawmakers in the exchanges—aren't really using Obamacare for any of the reasons it exists, or in the same way the other 11-odd million enrollees are.
Most Americans, about 60 percent, get insurance through their jobs. The exchanges are there for people who don't, and therefore have to buy it on their own.
The Cruz family was among the 60 percent of people who get insurance through work. They used to be on the plan offered by Heidi Cruz's company, Goldman Sachs. But she's taking an unpaid leave for the presidential campaign, so they're switching to the coverage offered by Ted Cruz's employer—the federal government.
And if members of Congress want to get health insurance from their employer, the Obamacare exchange in Washington, D.C. is the first place to go.
Members of Congress used to get their health insurance just like any other federal employee, but Obamacare changed that. An amendment from Republican Sen. Charles Grassley kicked lawmakers and their staffers out of the exchange for federal employees; instead, they would have to use an Obamacare exchange. The government can still cover a portion of their premiums, just as almost all large employers do for their employees.
If he really wants to make a point, Cruz can go outside the exchange. But he probably would be purchasing roughly the same coverage — maybe even the exact same policy, just with a more cumbersome shopping process.
The biggest reason for lawmakers to use the exchanges, though, is so the government will be able to make its contribution to their premiums. Cruz has said he will forego that subsidy, which would have covered more than 70 percent of his family's premiums.
The subsidy Cruz passed up — but which other lawmakers are receiving — is not from Obamacare. It's from his job, and it's very common. Americans who have employer-based insurance (remember that's about 60 percent of the country) get, on average, 70 to 80 percent of their premiums paid by their employers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
So, sure, Ted Cruz might go into the exchanges. With most members of Congress. And even if he had taken the government's contribution, that would have been a standard workplace benefit unconnected to the Affordable Care Act.
This whole process is an aberration. It's not an extension of how Obamacare works or what Obamacare does.
Congress shoehorned itself into the exchanges to make a political point ("what's good enough for our constituents is good enough for us"). The Obamacare safety net is not catching Ted Cruz, nor is he surreptitiously hoarding the particular benefits he wants to take away from other people. This is just the awkward process Congress decided on.
The exchanges are there for small businesses and people who don't get coverage through their jobs at all. It might not make a ton of sense that Congress tossed a small sliver of federal employees — people who work for the largest employer in the country, and who have health benefits — into a market for small businesses and the uninsured.
But it also doesn't make a ton of sense to argue that if Ted Cruz hates Obamacare so much, he has to prove it by renouncing standard, non-Obamacare health care benefits that most Americans receive. Which is why his Republican colleagues haven't done so, either.
I seriously doubt Hillary, a multi-millionaire, is on Obamacare
Most members of congress are multi-millionaires and as the article states, they’re on it.
No they are not. They are exempt. And with their cash they do private insurance
I cannot take it
Is Jeb Bush on Obamacare?
How about Scott Walker?
If your on it you can be in on a class action suit against it.
If Cruz had been on the former Senate policy, which he was not, then Cruz on ObamaCare is no different than anyone else who was not allowed to keep his former ‘company’ policy and had to switch to an ObamaCare policy. You can’t keep your doctor. You can’t keep your coverage.
You might want to call their people and ask them. I have no insider knowledge about either of those gentlemen.
Congresscritters should be forced to comply with every law that they impose on the rest of us.
I pray that Governor Walker stays far away from Obamacare. Thank God he is a Governor....he doesn’t have to cow tow to Obamacare like the Senators have to. Walker kept his principles once again.
stanne, Read the article! Chuck Grassley changed that.
Is Jeb Bush on Obamacare?
How about Scott Walker?
Could care less about Jeb Bush but Walker better not sign up......the chumps who do are dumb.
WTF? How is this about Scott Walker? And how do you know which health insurance policy his family has? Did you ask him when you were over at his house for supper? LOL
What are the odds that Hillary is never asked by the MSM what kind of special deal she has for her healthcare insurance?
The 0bamacare Suppository should be forced on every politician, bureaucrat, and judge as long as it is “the law”.
Yeah, just like Iowa and ethanol! Oh, wait...
He’s rich. I don’t know why he didn’t just go to an insurance broker and buy private insurance. It would have made a great photo-op (an American taking care of himself anf family without the government in the middle). Missed opportunity.
I also doubt she's paying the Cadillac tax, or any taxes at all, despite pulling in millions from ??? Maybe more used underwear tax write offs.
Now read the article.
With all due respect, it may be time to concede that Cruz is the candidate to beat. Now I'll still support Walker, but I'm done attacking Cruz and part of me hopes he does get the nomination.
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