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Cali_Democrat

(30,439 posts) Tue Mar 24, 2015, 06:22 PM Mar 2015

Ted Cruz Plans To Sign Up For Obamacare After Losing Blue-Chip Health Plan

Source: TPM

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), whose push to defund Obamacare led to a government shutdown, now plans to get insured through the federal exchange.

"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," Cruz told the Des Moines Register on Tuesday.

Previously, Cruz had been covered under his wife's blue-chip employer health insurance plan.

But Bloomberg reported that Heidi Nelson Cruz, a managing director for Goldman Sachs in Houston, had taken an unpaid leave from the company in order to pitch in on her husband's presidential campaign. Cruz confirmed to the Des Moines Register that his wife took a leave from the Wall Street firm.

When the Register asked Cruz if having to purchase insurance on the federal health care exchange bothered him, Cruz sidestepped the question.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-to-sign-up-obamacare-insurance

13 replies

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Ted Cruz Plans To Sign Up For Obamacare After Losing Blue-Chip Health Plan (Original Post) Cali_Democrat Mar 2015 OP

Hypocrite thats what they are. Historic NY Mar 2015 #1

Why would he do such a thing? eringer Mar 2015 #2

why couldnt he still use her insurance riverbendviewgal Mar 2015 #3

Why use the Exchange, when he can get the same lower-cost private insurance because of ACA rules?... Journeyman Mar 2015 #4

I thought that that the exchanges were also put up in order to make it easier for people cstanleytech Mar 2015 #6

They are, and my wife and I used an Exchange in California to get coverage in 2014. . . Journeyman Mar 2015 #7

Is Covered California the equivalent of Medicaid? Does this "Estate Recovery" scheme apply? proverbialwisdom Mar 2015 #8

It's a trap kacekwl Mar 2015 #5

Did ACA RobinA Mar 2015 #9

My brother, a Bill Clinton hater, is now using the FMLA. callous taoboy Mar 2015 #10

Oh yeah Cosmocat Mar 2015 #12

It sucked until he needed it. reflection Mar 2015 #11

Exactly right! hamsterjill Mar 2015 #13

Historic NY

(37,453 posts)

1. Hypocrite thats what they are.

Reply to Cali_Democrat (Original post)

Tue Mar 24, 2015, 06:28 PM

Mar 2015

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2013/09/21/ted-cruz-s-pathway-to-victory-on-defunding-obamacare/

http://www.businessinsider.com/ted-cruz-filibuster-defund-obamacare-senate-government-shutdown-2013-9

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jul/27/sen-cruz-defund-obamacare-americans-become-addicte/

eringer

(460 posts)

2. Why would he do such a thing?

Reply to Cali_Democrat (Original post)

Tue Mar 24, 2015, 06:36 PM

Mar 2015

Viagra and birth control pills.

riverbendviewgal

(4,254 posts)

3. why couldnt he still use her insurance

Reply to Cali_Democrat (Original post)

Tue Mar 24, 2015, 06:36 PM

Mar 2015

But switch over to an individual plan. Which would be more expensive but it would not be Obamacare., although Obamacare law did ensure that preexisting conditions would not apply (except for prescriptions)

Journeyman

(15,041 posts)

4. Why use the Exchange, when he can get the same lower-cost private insurance because of ACA rules?...

Reply to Cali_Democrat (Original post)

Tue Mar 24, 2015, 06:37 PM

Mar 2015

He should be in the same private-pay hellhole I was in before the ACA was enacted, when my insurance cost 3X what it does today. Now, thanks to the cost-savings mandated by the ACA, my insurance is still way overpriced, but it's better.

And why in the world is he going on the Exchange, when based on his salary alone he won't qualify for any subsidies (which I suspect he'd avail himself of, given his desire to "make it on his own" and "not feed off the government teat&quot .

cstanleytech

(26,319 posts)

6. I thought that that the exchanges were also put up in order to make it easier for people

Reply to Journeyman (Reply #4)

Tue Mar 24, 2015, 10:30 PM

Mar 2015

to find a plan that they can afford and that the subsidies were only for those below a certain income level?

Journeyman

(15,041 posts)

7. They are, and my wife and I used an Exchange in California to get coverage in 2014. . .

Reply to cstanleytech (Reply #6)

Tue Mar 24, 2015, 10:50 PM

Mar 2015

We left "Covered California" this year, however, since we encountered a number of medical providers who "looked down their nose" at us for having "Obamacare." The assumption -- inaccurate, and arrived at with no evidence to support -- was that we were low income and (I assume) potentially a "risk" for making our co-pays. This year, we left the Exchange and purchased the exact same plan directly from the insurance carrier. So we still enjoy the benefits of the ACA -- our insurance comes at about a third the cost, we have access to a number of low-cost and free procedures mandated by the government, and we don't have to dread a medical diagnosis throwing us into an uninsurable category.

So what I meant about Cruz is, he doesn't have to get his insurance through an exchange -- he'll garner all the benefits without having to directly use an ACA-established plan -- so why is he even involved with it? Unless, of course, in his State or in DC, he gains something by going through the Exchange, something he wouldn't get if he just went and bought his own insurance. Further, I would really like for him to have to pay what I was paying two years ago for insurance: it would certainly open his eyes to the benefits of the ACA.

proverbialwisdom

(4,959 posts)

8. Is Covered California the equivalent of Medicaid? Does this "Estate Recovery" scheme apply?

Reply to Journeyman (Reply #7)

Wed Mar 25, 2015, 03:18 AM

Mar 2015

...You won’t find estate recovery in the ACA. It’s in the Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1993 (OBRA 1993)–a federal statute which applies to Medicaid, and, if you are enrolled in Medicaid, it will apply to you.

Estate Recovery

OBRA 1993 requires all states that receive Medicaid funding to seek recovery from the estates of deceased Medicaid patients for medical services received in a nursing home or other long-term care institution, home- and community-based services and related hospital and prescription drug services regardless of age. It also allows, at state option, recovery for all services used in the Medicaid state plan at age 55 or older. At minimum, states must pursue recovery from the probate estate which includes property that passes to heirs under state probate law, but states can expand the definition of estate to allow recovery from property that bypasses probate. This means states can use procedures for direct recovery from bank accounts and other funds. The state keeps a running tally, and even if you have a will, your heirs are chopped liver. Estate recovery can be exempted or deferred in certain situations after your death, but the regulations for this are limited and complicated with multitudes of conditions.

Your estate is what you own when you die – your home, other real estate in which you have a legal interest, personal property, bank accounts, annuities and so on. For cash-strapped states, recovery provides an income stream, and with the expansion of Medicaid states will be in dire need of money, particularly in the current economy.

You must first understand that if an exchange determines you are eligible for Medicaid, you have no other choice (in the exchange). Code for exchanges specifies that an applicant is not eligible for a subsidized plan to the extent that he or she is eligible for coverage under Medicaid. Therefore, when you apply, if you are found eligible, you will be tossed into Medicaid.

kacekwl

(7,022 posts)

5. It's a trap

Reply to Cali_Democrat (Original post)

Tue Mar 24, 2015, 09:08 PM

Mar 2015

he will find a way to criticize every step of the way. Fox entertainment will be along documeneting the disaster.

RobinA

(9,894 posts)

9. Did ACA

Reply to Cali_Democrat (Original post)

Wed Mar 25, 2015, 08:04 AM

Mar 2015

do away with COBRA?

callous taoboy

(4,590 posts)

10. My brother, a Bill Clinton hater, is now using the FMLA.

Reply to Cali_Democrat (Original post)

Wed Mar 25, 2015, 08:10 AM

Mar 2015

Hypocrites are a dime a dozen with the MEpublicans.

Cosmocat

(14,574 posts)

12. Oh yeah

Reply to callous taoboy (Reply #10)

Wed Mar 25, 2015, 10:06 AM

Mar 2015

It is ...

hopeless.

reflection

(6,286 posts)

11. It sucked until he needed it.

Reply to Cali_Democrat (Original post)

Wed Mar 25, 2015, 08:59 AM

Mar 2015

Typical.

hamsterjill

(15,224 posts)

13. Exactly right!

Reply to reflection (Reply #11)

Wed Mar 25, 2015, 12:06 PM

Mar 2015

Can't believe the hypocrisy, but then again, I guess I can.

These people never truly feel things until it impacts THEM personally. They lack empathy for anyone else. Instead of empathy for others, it is much easier for them to BLAME others.

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