# Ted Cruz is going on Obamacare. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 24, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899 "2015-03-24T21:42:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/41 "2015-03-25T16:53:37Z")
I’d pay for his healthcare myself if it meant I never had to look at his big stupid face. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/42 "2015-03-25T18:23:23Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I’d pay for his healthcare myself if it meant I never had to look at his big stupid face. You could just pay for plastic surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/43 "2015-03-25T18:40:16Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > He also has the choice of no health insurance at all–something many Americans were forced into pre-Obamacare because of pre-existing conditions or lack of income–a situation most Republicans would like go back to. He didn’t have to chose Obamacare or nothing, [from an article I read](http://thedailybanter.com/2015/03/the-good-the-bad-and-the-infuriating-aspects-of-ted-cruz-signing-up-for-obamacare/): > [@](#): > > If Cruz doesn’t have to sign up for an Obamacare plan, what were Cruz’s other non-Obamacare options? > > He could’ve immediately enrolled in COBRA, which would’ve allowed Cruz and his wife to keep their existing policy. He could’ve signed up for an Obamacare policy as an individual, like some members of Congress are doing to sidestep the so-called “illegal” premium sharing plan implemented by the OPM (continuing the policy of premium sharing from Congress’ previous health insurance program). Or he could’ve simply enrolled directly with an insurance provider in his state. > > And what did Cruz choose instead of all of these alternatives? He chose his arch-nemesis: Obamacare. Why? Because none of the above options would’ve included the 72 percent premium sharing from the government. And the plans offers, probably one of the Gold-level plans is likely comparable to his wife’s Goldman Sachs plan. So, not only did Cruz basically endorse the Obamacare option, but he did so in part because of Obama’s allegedly impeachment-worthy decision to continue the premium sharing plan for Congress. He seems to be choosing Obamacare because it’s the best option for him and his family. Which is great! I’m glad for everyone to get the best healthcare options possible. I just would hope it makes him realize that Obamacare is a good choice for others as well, and that he’ll walk back all his talk about repealing every bit of Obamacare. But I doubt that’s what will happen. > [@YogSosoth](#): > > Cruz and his cabal are calling Obamacare every name under the sun, from slavery to socialism to fascism or some evil harbinger of the End Times. But oh shit! Now that they have access to it, its fine? Fuck that. If it were legal for me to murder kids, I wouldn’t go on a murdering spree just because I’m allowed to. Cruz is basically saying that the Satan-inspired plan that’s going to send America to the Dark Ages again is pure evil, but sure let me save a few bucks because its ok to be evil for a while. While it may be legal, its definitely not ethical by his own standards. Right, it’d be one thing if he said that Obamacare was wasteful and not the best way to do healthcare, then it wouldn’t be a big deal for him to go on it until there’s a better option available. But when he’s talking about it like it’s from Satan, it’s very strange for him to go on it. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/44 "2015-03-25T19:52:55Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > But the law makes the exchanges the best deal. I might think there would be a BETTER deal if the law didn’t exist, but those deals aren’t available… Did you buy health insurance privately before the ACA was passed? > [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > How do you know your premiums weren’t destined to go up regardless of Obamacare? Statistically likely, since most people’s premiums increase every bloody year. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/45 "2015-03-25T21:01:58Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > He is far too well paid to be eligible. I know, his income alone is double the cutoff (not including his wifes income). However I enjoy the fact that he wouldn’t even come out and say ‘No, I will refuse a subsidy’ even though he is ineligible. It would’ve been a 0 risk statement on his part. All he did was make himself look like a hypocrite and like someone who would take a subsidy if it was offered to him (he referred to the subsidies as getting hooked on sugar in the past), and it was probably because he is too ignorant to know he earns too much to get a subsidy. In my view, he damaged his own credibility because he is too ignorant to understand the law he grandstands against. I love it. I love it when a dumb RWA self destructs. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/46 "2015-03-25T21:03:49Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > Statistically likely, since most people’s premiums increase every bloody year. Mine once went up by over 40% on a plan I never used, and that was 2007. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/47 "2015-03-25T23:23:11Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Mine once went up by over 40% on a plan I never used, and that was 2007. Mine went up 100% a year…and I worked for the insurance company in question. (Single employees did not pay any premium for their insurance when I started to work there. It was benefit LOVED by employees. Married employees had a good deal, too. However, we paid for pap smears and birth control, so things were a wash.) In fact, every year since I’ve worked full-time (so, 1992 to present), premiums, co-pays, and/or deductibles have gone up; and coverage and benefits have gone down. This happened way before Obama was anywhere near the White House, and has over the years had FAR more to do with an industry wringing every last cent from the people it insures. True story; one of the Blue Cross offices has a private jet for the use of upper management and gold faucets in upper management washrooms. That’s YOUR money being used by a company that often claimed to be terribly short of money. Sorry; that turned into a rant there. :o ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/48 "2015-03-26T00:17:12Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You could just pay for plastic surgery. What’s the going price for a cephalectomy these days? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/49 "2015-03-26T00:29:49Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > What’s the going price for a cephalectomy these days? Should be pretty cheap. Even a hack surgeon can do that one. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/50 "2015-03-26T02:21:25Z")
He doesn’t have to have Obamacare. He could simply contact an independent insurance agent. Or, he could pay the fine. Regarding the subsidy, I thought there is a special one for Congress, where being a rep gets you the discount and income level does not apply to it. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/51 "2015-03-26T16:38:01Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > Sorry; that turned into a rant there. :o You’re in the right forum for it, so feel free to go nuts. Cursing is condoned but optional. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/52 "2015-03-26T17:03:50Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > You’re in the right forum for it, so feel free to go nuts. Cursing is condoned but optional. 🙂 Well, I’m glad to have backing on the ranting. I’d rant more, but I have to go call the “prescription administrator” (CVS/Caremark, who are like dealing with barnyard animals, but dumber) for my insurance company. My physician – a noted neurologist\* specializing in migraine/headache/chronic daily headache – sent in a medication preauth request for a very common migraine med, noting I’d failed on the preferred med. He very clearly requested a limit override as well. In big numbers. 18. Not 6 (which cures three migraines; I have chronic migraine). Caremark “approved” the drug, but only 6. Not the 18 that would cure 9 migraines a month. Last year I paid $1500 out of pocket before getting this crap straightened out. This will NOT be happening this year. ETA – tightening of prescription coverage is the newest way insurance companies are trying to squeeze more money out of patients. It used to be that three or four drugs in a class were covered, and maybe another couple at a higher tier copay. Now, in a lot of cases, you can have one or two generic only in a class. Migraine abortives, for example: only Relpax is covered, and only in pill format. For any of the seven or so other drugs, you have to have prior authorization. There was a New York Times article about this issue. It’s ridiculous. \*(Said neurologist set up the first migraine/headache program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, and teaches at Harvard on the subject. He’s not some random doc-in-a-box.) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/53 "2015-03-28T09:38:29Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > What’s the going price for a cephalectomy these days? Apparently, free to members of Congress. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/54 "2015-03-28T18:20:54Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Because he is a republican. To these retards Cruz putting his socks on in the morning makes him an asshole just because he is not in lock step with their world view. > > You’re not paying attention again. Cruz is taking what his job offers him. It’s his wife who is going on the greatest thing of all time. Oh Drunky. You’re such a morAn. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/55 "2015-03-28T20:18:24Z")
This thread is stupid. Cruz is buying health insurance on an exchange. BFD. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/56 "2015-03-29T00:18:46Z")
Not stupid at all. Cruz is buying health insurance on an exchange **set up by an evil, socialist president for the purpose of destroying the fabric of American life**. Or so he and his buddies on the far right have been insisting ever since the law was passed. And yet…here he is, taking advantage of the Law That Is the Spawn of Satan. It’s a little bit as if Mother Jones (the person not the magazine) had said “I know I’ve spent virtually all my life railing against the horrible evil capitalists on behalf of the poor working men and women of this country. But now I’m taking a big cushy vice president job with Standard Oil.” I’m glad Cruz has found Obama’s exchanges useful. I hope he changes his mind about their value, or at least tones down the vehemence of his rhetoric against them. I ain’t holding my breath, though, and in the meantime it is perfectly reasonable to respond as many posters in this thread are doing. Because hypocrisy of this magnitude IS a big fucking deal. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/57 "2015-03-29T02:05:17Z")
Within the context of “Obamacare”, the exchanges usually get you the best deal. He would be stupid not to take advantage of that whether he agrees with the ACA or not. There is no such thing as “going on Obamacare”. We are all “on Obamacare”. It’s the law of the land. ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/58 "2015-03-29T03:11:21Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > Well, I’m glad to have backing on the ranting. > > I’d rant more, but I have to go call the “prescription administrator” (CVS/Caremark, who are like dealing with barnyard animals, but dumber) for my insurance company. My physician – a noted neurologist\* specializing in migraine/headache/chronic daily headache – sent in a medication preauth request for a very common migraine med, noting I’d failed on the preferred med. He very clearly requested a limit override as well. In big numbers. 18. Not 6 (which cures three migraines; I have chronic migraine). > > Caremark “approved” the drug, but only 6. Not the 18 that would cure 9 migraines a month. > > Last year I paid $1500 out of pocket before getting this crap straightened out. This will NOT be happening this year. > > ETA – tightening of prescription coverage is the newest way insurance companies are trying to squeeze more money out of patients. It used to be that three or four drugs in a class were covered, and maybe another couple at a higher tier copay. Now, in a lot of cases, you can have one or two generic only in a class. Migraine abortives, for example: only Relpax is covered, and only in pill format. For any of the seven or so other drugs, you have to have prior authorization. There was a New York Times article about this issue. It’s ridiculous. > > \*(Said neurologist set up the first migraine/headache program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston, and teaches at Harvard on the subject. He’s not some random doc-in-a-box.) If you want, tell them I said to eat a horse dick\*. And if they don’t enjoy the first one, keep going til they love it. \*it can be any large herbivore, really. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/59 "2015-03-30T12:34:54Z")
He could have said “I refuse to buy insurance under this evil law which I have declared to be the worst thing in the history of the universe. I’ll just go out and buy my own policy as an individual”. But when it comes down to standing up for a principle or saving a few bucks, we all know what always wins. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899/60 "2015-03-30T13:09:16Z")
Maybe he’s doing it to “share Americans’ pain”; and so he can whine about being forced to pay for birth control for his 6-year old daughter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ted-cruz-is-going-on-obamacare/715899.md?page=4)