After Sen. Ted Cruz announced his campaign for president on March 23, the Republican from Texas was quick to let everyone know how serious his goals actually are. He’ll end the Affordable Care Act, he promised. He’ll make its removal one of his first jobs as president, he swore.
Imagine in 2017, a new president signing legislation repealing every word of Obamacare.
And so valid is his candidacy and campaign promise, his wife actually went on unpaid leave from her job to join the team full-time. Her newly unemployed status leaves her uninsured, however, so guess what Cruz told media the very next day after announcing his end-Obamacare campaign?
That’s right – he’s signing his wife up for that same health insurance program.
He told the Des Moines Register on March 24:
We will presumably go on the exchange and sign up for health care and we’re in the process of transitioning over to do that.
Funny, ain’t it? Earlier this month, he introduced a bill he says will replace the Affordable Care Act, and in apparent hope that a Supreme Court case to be heard this week will declare it null and void. (His “Health Care Choices Act” eliminates the key provisions of Obamacare, allowing insurance companies to resume refusing coverage, setting lifetime maximums, and charging high-profit rates.) And back in Sept. 2013, he filibustered for over 21 hours in contest against Obamacare, building a platform for the costly government shutdown that followed shortly after. But now – just one day after officially entering the 2016 presidential race – he suddenly needs that same Obamacare for his wife.
Despite the hypocrisy, Cruz did repeat intentions of taking away that health insurance from about 16 million Americans – but only after his wife will no longer need it, of course.
I believe in 2017 a new president, a Republican president, will sign legislation repealing every word of it. There are a fair number of Republicans in Washington and elsewhere who have quietly and privatively given up on that fight and I have not.
Thanks, Ted!
H/T: Think Progress | Image: Jamelle Bouie via Flickr (modified)
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