Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Ted Cruz -- An Anti-Obamacare Crusader -- Will Seek Health Law Coverage
Ted Cruz is going on Obamacare. The newly announced Republican presidential candidate told CNN's Dana Bash on Tuesday that he will sign up for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act -- a law he has been on a crusade to kill. (Bash and Lee, 3/24)
Ted Cruz, who once spent 21 straight hours speaking on the Senate floor railing against Obamacare, plans to sign up for Obamacare. (Lightman, 3/24)
So, irony of all ironies 鈥 Sen. Ted Cruz could now be joining Obamacare. Cruz said Tuesday he may sign up for the health insurance program he's promised to repeal "every word of" because he's no longer on his wife's plan. His wife, Heidi, is taking a leave of absence from Goldman Sachs during her husband's newly unveiled presidential campaign, meaning the Cruzes will need to find health insurance elsewhere. (Millman, 3/24)
鈥淲e will presumably go on the exchange and sign up for health care, and we鈥檙e in the process of transitioning over to do that,鈥 Cruz, a Republican candidate for president, told The Des Moines Register Tuesday. (Jacobs, 3/24)
The first-term senator from Texas said he is looking at options available on a health insurance exchange, or a clearinghouse of policies available to Americans who don't receive coverage through their employers. ... Under an amendment to the law crafted by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the government can only offer members of Congress and their staff health care insurance that's sold through an exchange. (3/24)
Senator Ted Cruz helped lead an effort to shut down the government in 2013 in an attempt to defund President Obama鈥檚 health care law. Now the Texas senator, a newly announced Republican presidential candidate, is signing up for coverage under it. ... So Mr. Cruz is now turning to the very thing he has spent more than two years vowing to repeal. (Haberman, 3/24)
In September 2013, efforts by Cruz and House of Representatives conservatives to gut Obamacare by holding up a government spending bill led to a 16-day government shutdown. Cruz, a conservative firebrand who is a favorite of the Tea Party movement, on Monday became the first major figure in either party to enter the 2016 presidential race (3/24)
"But there are other options that the senator is considering before making a final decision about how to make sure his family is insured." The clarification from Cruz's camp came after an interview in which he hinted he would sign up for coverage through the health care law's exchanges. (Cervantes, 3/24)
