Follow
GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz, who announced his election bid officially just two days back, is looking for health insurance and could soon be buying a health care coverage for his family through the Affordable Care Act, the health care program which he has vowed to dismantle.
Cruz, the Texas Republican whose Senate filibuster against President Barack Obama’s health care law caused a partial government shutdown in 2013, is considering a health insurance program for his wife, Heidi Cruz, who has gone on an unpaid leave from her job at Goldman Sachs in Houston after he revealed his election ambitions officially.
As Mrs. Cruz will remain on unpaid leave, the family would soon require an alternate health insurance policy.
Texas’ first-term senator said that he is exploring the options available on a health insurance exchange or a clearing house of policies for those Americans who don’t receive coverage by their employers. The health care law introduced by the Obama administration, which is commonly known as Obamacare, created the exchange system.
In an interview to The Des Moines Register, Cruz said, “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.”
With Cruz’s wife staying on unpaid leave, the family could go without insurance, or prefer its coverage directly from an insurance firm that would be at far more higher rate than available through an exchange.
Doing so means Mrs. Cruz would not enjoy the contribution from his employer.
Responding over the issue, Cruz’s spokesman Rick Tyler said that the family had not yet decided whether to consider an option or the financial impacts of such a choice.
“Let them make a decision on what coverage they’ll get before we start speculating on every variable,” the spokesperson said.
On Monday, Cruz opened his election campaign speech with a pledge to dismantle the health care law.
