In a roundabout way only did Ted Cruz clarify his decision to enroll in health insurance through an exchange, Obamacare, would mean in terms of getting assistance in paying for premiums.
While he would not be eligible for “subsidies” under Obamacare, Cruz only tangentially made reference to the fact that as an employee of the federal government Cruz would be entitled to employer contributions towards his health insurance coverage which in the case of the federal government can range from 72 to 75 percent of premium expenses for health insurance.
Cruz should not have glossed over the distinction that his status as a Senator with the US government as his employer makes in terms of Obamacare which normally leaves individuals on their own choosing from private participating insurers and hoping that they will get premium assistance from the federal government, SUBSIDIES.
For Cruz and other legislators the story is different from the average Obamacare enrollee because their employer, the federal government contributes up to 75 percent of their premium costs. As employees receiving such employer contributions of up to 75 percent of their premiums, obviously members of Congress are ineligible for additional premium assistance (subsidies) as provided under Obamacare.
While Cruz’s discomfort with his Obamacare choice might have come across as pretty dishonest, in watching Cruz explain his choice to CNN’s Dana Bash, (see video at http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/24/politics/ted-cruz-obamacare/) people should be encouraged that he stuttered and stumbled in apparent awareness and maybe even hesitancy to fib which for me is a relief from the President’s easy and glib communication of partial untruths and blatant lies (which at least for many of us was the basis of our buy-in to Obamacare in the first place).
Hate him or love him, judgment of Ted Cruz for his choice to participate in his employer’s health insurance should NOT be determinative, even if that choice is Obamacare with rich federal government contributions.
The issue of Republican Rich and Democratic Representatives of the Masses is as stale an idea as pushing forth the idea that helping the rich will trickle down to the poor, none of these candidates is living an average life and they are all far wealthier than the majority of the people they seek to represent.
Reasonably, judgment of Ted Cruz should be no harsher than Harry Reid’s response to allowing some of his staff NOT to participate in Obamacare…”We are just following the law,” (CNN, 12/3/2013, “Some Reid staffers exempt from Obamacare exchanges,” By Chris Frates, CNN Investigative Correspondent).
