{"id":6771,"date":"2015-03-25T17:27:06","date_gmt":"2015-03-25T17:27:06","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2015-03-25T17:27:06","modified_gmt":"2015-03-25T17:27:06","slug":"what_are_ted_cruz_s_health_insurance_options_and_what_motivations_are_you_projecting_on_him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2015\/03\/25\/what_are_ted_cruz_s_health_insurance_options_and_what_motivations_are_you_projecting_on_him\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Ted Cruz\u2019s Health Insurance Options — And What Motivations Are You Projecting on Him?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: There continues to be some… well, not just curiosity, some confusion as well about Ted Cruz and his decision to sign up for Obamacare. There\u2019s another option. There\u2019s some options that he has here, and I want to run through these. Now, all of this would have been academic had his wife not quit. Well, she didn\u2019t quit. She took an unpaid leave of absence from Goldman Sachs. If she had stayed there while he ran the campaign, this would not even be an issue. <\/p>\n

But they made a determination that a campaign is a family endeavor, obviously, and she wants to be there to support him, and she is quite accomplished in her own right as well. So she\u2019s just taking an unpaid leave. She\u2019s gonna go back there. Well, depending on what happens with his electoral chances here, but she will go back there. Her temporary leave without pay cancels the family health care package, which, at Goldman Sachs, has a value of about $20,000.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a pretty good benefit, and it\u2019s gone. So what are the options Ted Cruz has? Because I\u2019ll tell you the reactions that I\u2019m seeing are running the gamut. Some say that he\u2019s been brilliant here in illustrating to people how punitive this law is and how big and deep the long arm of the federal government is. Others say he looks like a hypocrite because he\u2019s well known to hate Obamacare. <\/line><\/p>\n

He has made one of his central campaign promises a total repeal of Obamacare, and yet here he is signing up for it. Not only signing up for it, but he doesn\u2019t appear to be doing so begrudgingly. He doesn\u2019t appear to be angry about having to do it. He just matter of fact signed up for Obamacare, and he had no choice in this regard. There are three things he could do. Sign up for insurance, not get insurance and pay the fine.<\/p>\n

In which case, if the family encountered any health care expenses, the family would have to have enough money to pay for those out of pocket and make the choice to do so. So that\u2019s two-pronged. I don\u2019t know how much money Cruz has. But let\u2019s say he\u2019s got enough to handle whatever day-to-day normal health care might come up, maybe even in an emergency or two, but may decide I don\u2019t want to spend my money for that so you I\u2019m gonna go get insurance like everybody else does. <\/p>\n

‘Cause if I don\u2019t get insurance, if I protest kind of thing here and just pay the fine, it will be cheaper than insurance. But what if somebody in the family gets sick? I don\u2019t live alone here. I have family responsibilities. Of course, the third thing he could do is nothing. It\u2019s really not an option. He\u2019s a member of United States Senate. Not doing anything doing would not be cool. <\/p>\n

That would mean that it would be publicly stating he\u2019s doing nothing, and the IRS would not have to find him in an audit. The IRS is the collection agency if you don\u2019t have insurance. They\u2019re gonna get you for your fine, and the IRS is how they\u2019re gonna collect it, and they\u2019re gonna collect it from your refund, if you have one. If you don\u2019t get a refund, at some point they\u2019re gonna figure you will get a refund, and they\u2019re gonna take that whenever you get it. <\/line><\/p>\n

If you never qualify for a refund, they\u2019re gonna send you a bill. One way or the other the IRS is gonna get your fine money if you decide not to get insurance. But when you get right down to brass tacks, Obama has given all of us no choice here. Ted Cruz has no choice but to use Obamacare because congressmen are forced into Obamacare. They cannot use a non-Obamacare insurance policy and still get it through their employer. <\/p>\n

Their employer is the federal government, and they can\u2019t get insurance outside the government and get the employer discount or the premium subsidy. So there really are no other choices. There are no individual insurance plans thanks to Obamacare. Well, that\u2019s not true. There are still a few companies selling individual insurance plans, not nearly systems used to before there was Obamacare. <\/p>\n

The private sector individual health insurance market is rapidly evaporating, thanks to Obamacare. So there really are no other choices. There are no individual insurance plans anymore, thanks to Obamacare. It\u2019s not totally, but there are so few, they\u2019re prohibitively expensive because there are so few of them. There\u2019s no competition for them. If you go in, if you find a company still selling individual plans just to you, health insurance plans, you\u2019re gonna pay through the nose for it. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s why seven million or more people lost their health insurance, because the private sector provider is drying up. The private individual insurance market is drying up. That is why seven million and probably more people lost their health insurance. So just to review this: Cruz had two choices if he intended to follow the law. Trying to find a private plan — and most of them have been done away with, or become incredibly expensive because of Obamacare, which makes them out of reach. <\/p>\n

If he went that route, he would lose whatever his employer pays toward his premiums. Second thing he could do, get insurance through his employer, which, by law has to be Obamacare because he\u2019s a member of the US government. So where\u2019s the hypocrisy? The Drive-Bys are trying to say he\u2019s a hypocrite here, but he\u2019s got no choice. If he\u2019s a member of the Senate, in the federal government\u2019s the employ, he\u2019s got to follow the law. He has to be insured through Obamacare. <\/line><\/p>\n

All these Democrats who fought the Bush tax cuts, did they refuse to pay less on their income taxes, or did they take the cuts? It\u2019s six of one, half dozen or another. Democrats hated Bush\u2019s tax cuts, but I\u2019ll bet that every one of them took them. How many Democrats do you think did that? They\u2019re out there. When Bush announced his two or three series of tax cuts back in 2001-2002, and all these Democrats are disagreeing with him. But how many of them do you think said, “You know what?<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m in protest, and I\u2019m gonna pay more taxes than I should. I\u2019m gonna violate the law and I\u2019m gonna get a greater contribution to the government. I\u2019m not gonna take my tax cut.” How many you think did that? I\u2019ll give you the answer: Zero. They all followed the law, and nobody called \u2019em hypocrites. They\u2019re out there opposed to tax cuts but every damn one of them took the tax cuts. Well, here\u2019s Cruz, opposing Obamacare, and promising to repeal it if he ever has the chance.<\/p>\n

But the law is the law, and they\u2019re calling him a hypocrite. What do they want him to do, break the law? I\u2019m talking about the media and whoever else or his critics, what do they want him to do, make a stand here on this? Is that what some people want him to do. He hates Obamacare. He\u2019s supposed to be make a stand; he\u2019s supposed to be show leadership. If Obamacare is bad, he should not sign up for it. Is that what some people think he should have done? <\/p>\n

The COBRA option, his wife could go to COBRA. COBRA is 18 months, max. I don\u2019t think 18 months would get him through the election. It would be tight, might be right up to the election in 2006. But COBRA is not inexpensive. COBRA is not cheap. All COBRA is is a mechanism whereby if you get canned, if your company goes out of business or for whatever reason you lose your insurance, COBRA is the mechanism that\u2019s been set up for you to go and keep it. <\/p>\n

But there are no cost reductions in it. Now, if Cruz had opted for the fine instead of the insurance, that would be cheaper, but he would not have had insurance. So now we\u2019re back to, okay, if the family needs health care, actually needs some treatment, does he have the money to spend it out of pocket if all he does is pay the fine and doesn\u2019t have any insurance? If he does have the money — and I don\u2019t know.<\/line><\/p>\n

If he does have the money, is that how he wants to spend it, or would he rather save it, keep it in a 401(k), whatever he does with his money. I have no idea. His wife probably handles that. She\u2019s at Goldman Sachs. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ve got the money to pay the fine. But if he went out and paid the fine, if he opted not to insure his family, can you imagine what the Drive-Bys would do with that? They would call him a dangerous lunatic, they would call him a monster. So he can\u2019t win on this. He can\u2019t win. <\/p>\n

I have not heard him say — now, Snerdley, correct me. I have not heard Cruz say that he\u2019s doing this under protest. I have not heard him say he\u2019d rather not have to do it. I\u2019ve not heard him complain about it. I\u2019ve heard him say, “I gotta follow the law.” We read the law, and we follow it. We follow the text of the law. But I\u2019ve not heard him express regrets that he has to do this. Have you? (interruption) Well, he may have; I just haven\u2019t heard it. I think some of his supporters want to see some synchronization here, if you will. <\/p>\n

Because, on the one hand, Ted Cruz is identified as somebody who despises it and has vowed to repeal it. And then out of the blue, the next thing people know, he\u2019s signing up for it and doesn\u2019t appear to be upset about it. So some people say, ‘Wait a minute. This is not in sync. He ought to be mad that he has to sign up for it. And when he signs up for it, he ought to turn this into a big issue to his advantage. He ought to make a teachable moment out of this.” That\u2019s what I hear some people saying. <\/p>\n

And some people think he is doing that, but they are inferring it because I don\u2019t hear him saying it. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Somebody says I missed the point. I didn\u2019t miss the point. I never miss the point. Other people miss the point. I pointed out… (interruption) What, the point that I missed? I should have said that Ted Cruz offered and claimed he wasn\u2019t gonna take any subsidies so that he does not appear to be an elitist. I pointed that out in the previous hour. He\u2019s not going to take any subsidy, even one that he qualifies for. And the reason he\u2019s not gonna do that is because he doesn\u2019t want to be on the dole. He doesn\u2019t want to take any more of taxpayer money than he already is by signing up for Obamacare. <\/p>\n

I made that clear in the first hour of the program. In that sense he\u2019s avoiding the trap of appearing to be identical to the elites on this, who don\u2019t have a problem. Now, they\u2019re all happy about this at the White House. They\u2019re very happy, they had an official welcoming ceremony, Ted Cruz and Obamacare at the White House. Here\u2019s the press secretary, Josh Earnest, this afternoon at the press briefing. A reporter said, “Could you comment on the news that Senator Cruz is looking at obtaining health care insurance through a health care exchange under Obamacare?”<\/line><\/p>\n

EARNEST: What he will find is the same thing that millions of Americans across the country have found, which is that there are good, quality, affordable health care plans that are available because of the Affordable Care Act. And these are plans that will ensure that people are no longer discriminated against because they have a preexisting condition. These are plans that will ensure that individuals are not discriminated against just because they\u2019re women.<\/p>\n

RUSH: What?<\/p>\n

EARNEST: These are plans that will ensure that the recipients have access to free preventative services, like free mammograms, free birth control.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh, yeah, so Ted Cruz\u2019s wife is gonna need, what, birth control pills, $3,000 a month, birth control pills, condoms. This is something he\u2019s gonna find out, “Oh, this is such a great thing.” His wife is gonna discover all of these preventative services. By the way, this preexisting condition, people have forgotten, the pool that they created, people didn\u2019t sign up for that. That kind of withered on the vine, this whole preexisting condition thing. This is nothing more than an agenda cheat sheet here. Plans will ensure people are no longer discriminated against because they have a preexisting condition. That\u2019s not discrimination. I know it\u2019s become discrimination in our culture, but it isn\u2019t. And won\u2019t discriminate because they\u2019re women, that\u2019s what Ted Cruz is gonna find? Anyway, they\u2019re happy about it and they\u2019re welcoming him to it. The exchange continued with this question from the unnamed reporter.<\/p>\n

REPORTER: You don\u2019t seem to be taking the bait for the ironic moment that this represents.<\/p>\n

EARNEST: I have noticed that a number of other people have pointed out the irony. I\u2019m seeking to merely point out the common experience that it seems that the Cruz family may be sharing in.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, so I\u2019ll leave the irony to you guys, my buddies and my associates. I don\u2019t need to point out the irony \u2019cause I\u2019ve got you schlubs in the media doing it for us. So all I\u2019m gonna do is point out how happy and satisfied Senator Cruz is going to be once he learns the truth of Obamacare. He will never want to be without it and that\u2019s what we\u2019re so happy that he\u2019s going to learn. Now, if you want to point out the irony, you go right ahead. I\u2019ve noticed a lot of people already doing that, but I\u2019m not gonna go there. Unstated, \u2019cause I don\u2019t have to, you guys are taking care of that for us. And we appreciate it here at the Regime. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Dave in Bedford, Ohio, as we head back to the phones. Great to have you, Dave, thank you for waiting, and welcome to the program.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, Rush. First, I just want to take one quick second, you have really changed the way I think about a lot of different things. Conservatism and the way you explain it, the way it hit my ears, I just wanted to thank you for changing the way I look at, not just politics, but my life as a whole, and I just wanted to thank you sincerely for changing the way I look at things, not just through heart, but through real reason and understanding and basis of facts, and not just opinions and half-hearted nonsense like you hear out in the real media out there. I just want to thank you for that real quick.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: I appreciate that very much, sir. Thank you very much.<\/p>\n

CALLER: But as far as Ted Cruz goes, I think he\u2019s playing it this way. I don\u2019t obviously know for a fact, but me personally, my premiums went up when Obamacare took effect. I had two raises at my job the last two years, and basically I\u2019m paying higher premiums for my family health care coverage. And Ted Cruz has been a constant, constant opponent of Obamacare, and I think he\u2019s signing up for it — Hey, I get it. Me and everybody else knows he can afford whatever he wants, he can go outside, but the point is, to make the point, and I think his premiums may not go up, but his coverage may go down, or his premiums may go up, or he can maybe contrast his wife\u2019s policy with Obamacare\u2019s policy, and, well, “Hey, my wife had to take a leave of absence from her job –“<\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, I have to point something out here. I know that that\u2019s what you want him to do, but he hasn\u2019t done that. We\u2019ve gotta be very careful here that we don\u2019t project our own desires on Cruz\u2019s actions. You may want him to say those things and you may want what you\u2019ve described his attitude to be to be his attitude. So far, I may have missed it, but I haven\u2019t seen him say any of that. I haven\u2019t seen him express any regret. I haven\u2019t seen him react to any of the so-called irony. I don\u2019t know what the irony is of Ted Cruz being forced into Obamacare. It\u2019s the law. What do they expect him to do, break the law? Make a stand for it? I don\u2019t understand. <\/p>\n

CALLER: As far as that goes, when he said yesterday, “I\u2019m just following the letter of the law, even if I disagree with it,” a presidential candidate saying that is music to my ears. Hey, maybe you disagree with it, but, hey, I\u2019m going along with it. It\u2019s more than the president\u2019s doing right now, number one.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/line><\/p>\n

CALLER: And number two, I think he\u2019s a very smart man. I think he knows what he was getting himself into, and I think he may have already done a little bit of research on this and maybe knows that he\u2019s going to lose maybe his family doctor or premiums shift one way or another, or, you know, something\u2019s gonna happen where he can say, “Hey, you know, I\u2019m one with you guys.” <\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay.<\/p>\n

CALLER: “I\u2019m being affected by Obamacare, too. I\u2019m with you on this.”<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: You know what I mean?<\/p>\n

RUSH: All right. I\u2019ll tell you what we\u2019re gonna have to do here. We\u2019re gonna have to wait for a while to see if your theory is true. Because basically what you\u2019re saying is that Cruz has thought about this in advance, this was not just a random decision, and that at some point he\u2019s going to take the occasion of his having to sign up and turn it into a political advantage or weapon.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Absolutely.<\/p>\n

RUSH: And you think that he\u2019s going to describe how he\u2019s maybe not able to keep the doctor he liked or he is getting less coverage than he had or whatever, you think that is what is coming next?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Absolutely. I mean, this is like what we\u2019ve been waiting for. He didn\u2019t go through a government shutdown and do what he\u2019s been doing for nada. I think we need to have somebody that\u2019s man enough to fight the good fight and point out, yeah, he could go other places, but I need to stand here with these people and make this point.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I agree with that. Look, it\u2019s music to our ears to hear a presidential candidate express reverence for the law. But remember, he better point that out. You can\u2019t rely on the low-information crowd to pick up on the subtlety of that. The low-information crowd is not saying, “Wow, man, I love Cruz, he\u2019s actually obeying the law, as opposed to Obama, who\u2019s breaking it.” ‘Cause they don\u2019t think Obama\u2019s breaking the law, by definition, they\u2019re low info.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Look, folks, I don\u2019t want to overdo this. I don\u2019t want to be so redundant on this that that you get to the point, “Come on, Rush, I\u2019ve heard it.” But I want to say this enough so that you understand it. Ted Cruz had the choice of going COBRA, which would have cost him $20,000 a year, probably more, because that\u2019s the value that his wife\u2019s policy or benefit at Goldman Sachs contained. <\/p>\n

When she left, took her unpaid leave, they lose that. So they were used to a $20,000 health care benefit. If they go COBRA and avoid Obamacare, which is what some people wanted him to do, then he\u2019s looking at that expense. So he could do that, or he could get insurance through his employer and have the employer subsidize his premiums by up to 75%. Now, that\u2019s the law. I don\u2019t know to what extent that he is. He said he\u2019s not taking any subsidies, and these subsidies he\u2019s not going to take. <\/p>\n

What Cruz is doing here is being fiscally responsible for his family first, something the left doesn\u2019t understand. He isn\u2019t taking any subsidy. He\u2019s getting insurance through his employer. That is not a subsidy. And he\u2019s required to do that by law. He has to do what he did, or he can go the fine route, again, as we\u2019ve explained. It is not his fault that his employer is mandating that he use Obamacare. Just like it\u2019s not your fault that you are mandated to use Obamacare. It\u2019s not his fault; it\u2019s not your fault. <\/p>\n

Some people want him to take a stand because they think that would be consistent with hating Obamacare, so he ought to not do it. But he\u2019s got a family, and he\u2019s got family responsibilities there. Now, let\u2019s keep in mind also, Democrat congressmen and their staffers, do you remember this? They screamed bloody murder about having to go under Obamacare when they found out how much it was gonna cost. <\/p>\n

<\/a>I will never forget this. Harry Reid and a bunch of Democrat leaders just yelped and whined<\/a>. Their staffers do not make enough money to afford Obamacare. So the staffers, who were not going to qualify for subsidies, Obama just waved a magic wand and granted congressional staffers subsidies, up to 75% of the cost is being subsidized, but not through the exchanges. <\/p>\n

Obama set up a subsidy program for congressional staffers that runs through a different federal bureaucracy. I can\u2019t think of it off the top of my head, but it\u2019s a common one. It\u2019s not something deeply hidden. Do you remember this? I will never forget it. So many surprises erupted when Obamacare began its implementation process. And senate staffers, the people that wrote the damn thing in many cases, were just outraged. <\/p>\n

Some of these people making 110, $120,000 a year could not afford it. And they whined and they moaned, and Harry Reid went out and whined and moaned, and they were given subsidies that were of a 75% value, 75% of the total cost is being paid by taxpayers through a different federal bureaucracy. People like Harry Reid went out of their way to try to exempt their staff from Obamacare and many of the staff, as I just explained, have been exempted. <\/p>\n

So what exactly is the irony of Ted Cruz being forced into Obamacare? Now, there\u2019s a story here in the Stack, I should have put this near the top, but I wasn\u2019t thinking properly. I didn\u2019t think it was gonna hit with the Cruz story. Let me take another call, I\u2019ll look for it while I\u2019m talking to the next caller. This is Larry in Nashville. Larry, great that you called. I appreciate you waiting and welcome to the program. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Oh, same here, Rush. It\u2019s great to talk to you. I\u2019ve been a fan of you ever since I was 14. That was back when I was a liberal. That was back in 2008, and I supported McCain after starting to hear your radio show. Now I\u2019m 21, and I\u2019m also Hispanic, so, you know, it\u2019s crazy. Well, I\u2019m calling because of Ted Cruz signing up for this Obamacare. I don\u2019t necessarily see it — I do see it as him, by law, going and signing up for this Obamacare, but I see it as him setting a precedent for American responsibility. <\/line><\/p>\n

We have to go get Obamacare. We have to go pay taxes to the IRS. Some of us may feel the IRS is unconstitutional, but it\u2019s our responsibility to pay our police officers and pave our roads. I see it as a responsibility, not so much as him being dragged out to the Obama exchange to be forced to buy this. I see it as a responsibility for Americans to start being responsible with their stuff. We used to support civil defense. We used to support the war effort. We used to support the vote. Now there\u2019s such apathy across the country, no one really cares anymore.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Again, you are constructing your own explanation, slash, justification to make yourself feel comfortable with what Cruz is doing, and I understand that. To you, he\u2019s engaging here in a civic and responsible way. There is the law, and then there\u2019s also the right thing to do, because signing up for Obamacare supposedly, theoretically, helps defray costs for others, which is one of the so-called unintended objectives here. <\/p>\n

But I need to caution all of you. I am the mayor of Realville for a reason. I live there and the population is very, very small. All of the things that I have heard today from people who\u2019ve called explaining to themselves why Cruz is doing this, he hasn\u2019t said. He has not said, “Okay, I have to do this. Just wait a couple weeks and you\u2019re gonna find out why I did this. In a couple weeks I\u2019m gonna be able to blow this to smithereens by pointing out how I lost my doctor or how premiums have gone up.” <\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t said any of that. There\u2019s a lot of projection going on. The point is, I have looked and I have had some people look for me as the program has been on the air here, we can\u2019t find one news story, one example of Ted Cruz doing this under protest. Not one. So if you are thinking that he\u2019s doing this with some form of protest or some political angle that we don\u2019t yet know, that\u2019s fine, but please understand, he has not said anything like that yet. <\/p>\n

Now, the fact that people are constructing these scenarios tells me they\u2019re uncomfortable with what he\u2019s done here. I\u2019m just being honest. For everybody that\u2019s called here today, “No, no, Rush, you just wait, you just wait. What Cruz is doing –” and then they tell me what his strategy is, tells me you\u2019re not really kosher with this. There\u2019s something about this that you not feeling comfortable about. Which I understand, by the way. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s this guy who has huffed and puffed and sworn off Obamacare and has promised to repeal it and hasn\u2019t had a good thing to say about it from day one, and they all wake up one day and there\u2019s Cruz smilingly signing up for it. And if your reaction is, “What? This doesn\u2019t compute,” I can understand that. So you would construct for your own comfort these scenarios you think might explain why he\u2019s doing this. And then you\u2019ve called here to share them with all of us. That\u2019s fine and dandy. <\/p>\n

But I\u2019m just cautioning you, he hasn\u2019t said anything yet that gives life to any of the theories that we\u2019ve heard here. He may down the road, don\u2019t know. All he said is he\u2019s gonna follow the law, and his wife left her employment, leaving the family uninsured. So now he has to insure the family, and the law says he has to do it with Obamacare. His employer is the federal government. It\u2019s mandated that he has this Obamacare coverage, and that\u2019s it. He did not say when he signed up “I regret having to do this.” He did not act unhappy. He did not act like he felt embarrassed over having to do this. He did not act in any way negative about this at all. So we\u2019ll just have to wait. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: But first here\u2019s Andrew in Tampa. Andrew, I appreciate your waiting. It\u2019s great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, how you doing today, Rush?<\/p>\n

RUSH: I\u2019m fine. Thank you.<\/p>\n

CALLER: One quick question for you. Why couldn\u2019t Ted Cruz go with an individual insurance plan.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, he could, except for the reality that they almost don\u2019t exist anymore, and those that that remain are expensive like you can\u2019t believe. That segment of the insurance market has been decimated.<\/p>\n

CALLER: My family and I have it. It\u2019s an individual plan. We had no choice, we had to go with that one as a result — when we signed up through the market, the closest doctor we could visit was up in Spring Hill, and my wife wouldn\u2019t accept that so we went ahead and went with an individual plan.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait. You are on an insurance plan, and you are the only insured?<\/p>\n

CALLER: No, it\u2019s me, my wife, and my child.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, that\u2019s what I meant, your family is the only insured?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yes.<\/p>\n

RUSH: You\u2019re not part of a group anywhere?<\/p>\n

CALLER: No.<\/p>\n

RUSH: And you got this through Obamacare?<\/p>\n

CALLER: No.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Have you always had that or is this something you did instead of Obamacare?<\/p>\n

CALLER: We did this instead of Obamacare because the closest doctor we could visit was up in Spring Hill.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Oh, because you couldn\u2019t find a doctor in your network?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Correct.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right. Well, the individual market is there. From what I understand, it\u2019s been decimated and so few companies are now offering individual health insurance because everything\u2019s trending toward mandatory Obamacare. And, as such, the number of policies offered are way down, the number of companies offering policies are way down, and the cost has become prohibitive, as I have been told and understand it. But I think in Cruz\u2019s case, now, remember his employer is the federal government, and he\u2019s mandated to use it.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here is Tom in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, first of all, I want to thank you very much for being the truthful conservative Voice of America.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you very much. I appreciate it. I appreciate it. I really do.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, I was listening to your program on the radio in my truck about an hour and a half ago and you played that sound bite where Ted was being interviewed and they started hammering him about now he\u2019s gonna be on Obamacare.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n

CALLER: And what I really called about was, you know, he started like he was going to explain exactly how Obamacare affects him, which is doesn\u2019t affect him at all.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Let\u2019s go back and listen to these real quick, and then let\u2019s make sure that people know what it is you\u2019re talking about. Mike, grab sound bite four and six. Here is what we played earlier. It\u2019s Ted Cruz being interviewed by Dana Bash on CNN, who said to him, “You and your family have been getting your health insurance through your wife\u2019s job at Goldman Sachs. She\u2019s now left that to help you with your campaign, so where are you getting your health insurance now?” <\/p>\n

CRUZ: She\u2019s taking an unpaid leave of absence from her job and so we\u2019re transitioning. We\u2019ll be getting new health insurance and we\u2019ll presumably do it through my job in the Senate, and so we\u2019ll be on the federal exchange like millions of others on the federal exchange.<\/p>\n

BASH: So you will be getting Obamacare, effectively?<\/p>\n

CRUZ: It is one of the good things about Obamacare, is that the statute provided that members of Congress would be on the exchanges without subsidies just like millions of Americans, so there wouldn\u2019t be a double standard.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. Is that what you heard you wanted to comment on?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well, yeah, and, you know, I think Ted Cruz is a whole lot of smarter than a lot of people give him credit for, because he could have cleared it up pretty quick and he didn\u2019t. You know, he is simply picking up insurance that is available for all federal employees. I\u2019m a retired federal employee, now retired, and I have Blue Cross\/Blue Shield, and I have a choice of like two or three different insurance companies. I don\u2019t have to go the exchange, never did have to go to the exchange.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Here\u2019s the next thing he said, because she said, “Well, now, are you gonna take a subsidy from your job, which is the…?” He just got through saying here that one of the good things about Obamacare is the statute provided members of Congress would be on the exchange without subsidies, just like millions of Americans, so there wouldn\u2019t be a double standard. In other words, members of Congress don\u2019t get something the American people don\u2019t. She says, “Will you take a subsidy from your job, which is the federal government?” BASH: The irony is just kind of unbelievable, that you have made your name fighting against Obamacare, and you now are going to sign up to get your insurance through that very process, Obamacare.<\/p>\n

CRUZ: Listen, it was the case before Obamacare that federal employees could get health insurance through their jobs. That\u2019s not a new development, so, yes, I\u2019ll get my insurance through my job like millions of other Americans.<\/p>\n

CRUZ: We will follow the text of the law —<\/p>\n

BASH: That means you are gonna take a government subsidy?<\/p>\n

CRUZ: I believe we should follow the text of the law.<\/p>\n

BASH: The law that you want to repeal?<\/p>\n

CRUZ: Yes. No, I — I believe we should follow the text of every law, even laws I disagree with.<\/p>\n

RUSH: He did not answer the subsidy question because I suspect that he himself suspected a setup there, so he just stuck with the fact that he was obeying the law.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yep. That\u2019s it. And look at all the controversy he\u2019s fired up over this. It\u2019s all exposure, you know?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, it is that. I mean, there\u2019s another question about that. You\u2019re seeing that he\u2019s got an opportunity here, and a lot of other people have called here today hoping that what they\u2019re seeing is an opportunity. But we\u2019re just gonna have to wait and see how Senator Cruz further explains this, if he intends to. He may not. I don\u2019t know. But clearly we have to take him at his word here. He is going to sign up through the federal exchange, and he\u2019s going to get it from his job, which is senator.<\/p>\n

And he will be on the federal exchange like millions of his others, and he said it\u2019s one of the good things about Obamacare is that the statute provided that members of Congress would be on the exchanges without subsidies just like millions of Americans so there wouldn\u2019t be a double standard. The staffers are being subsidized out the wazoo, though, and so are some members of the House. I… He\u2019s… I better stop there. I don\u2019t want to get anybody in trouble yet before I know exactly what the lay of this land is here, because it\u2019s unanswered.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: Folks, there\u2019s no hypocrisy in Cruz using Obamacare, just like there\u2019s no hypocrisy in people opposing Social Security using it. It is what it is. That\u2019s not the thing going on here. And he\u2019ll, I\u2019m sure, address this further, if need be. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: There continues to be some… well, not just curiosity, some confusion as well about Ted Cruz and his decision to sign up for Obamacare. There\u2019s another option. There\u2019s some options that he has here, and I want to run through these. Now, all of this would have been academic had his wife not quit. 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