Dive Brief:
- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) admitted he has health insurance after telling a presidential campaign rally in New Hampshire that Obamacare had caused his policy to be cancelled, CNN reported.
- The Republican candidate said Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas canceled his PPO plan, effective Dec. 31, 2015, and that he was shopping around for a new plan.
- Cruz has repeatedly vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Dive Insight:
Prior to Blue Cross, Cruz and his family had health insurance through his wife’s employer, Goldman Sachs. However, that policy was suspended in March 2015 when she went on leave to focus on her husband’s campaign.
While Blue Cross Blue Shield did pull its PPO plans in Texas, citing rising costs, the payer automatically rolled it's current enrollees into an HMO, preventing any lapse in coverage, according to Inquisitr. Since Cruz acknowledged receiving a letter his PPO plan was being canceled, the question is whether he was unaware that he’d been switched to an HMO or was lying.
As a U.S. senator, Cruz is eligible for a 75% employer subsidy on health insurance obtained through the Washington, DC, healthcare exchange, but he opted not to get it.