Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Thursday told an audience at a campaign stop in Manchester, New Hampshire that he no longer is covered by health insurance, Politico reported.
He said his coverage lapsed because Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas dropped its individual policies and he had not found a new plan by December 31, when those policies ceased.
Not surprisingly, Cruz used the revelation to bash Obamacare.
“I’ll tell you, you know who one of those millions of Americans is who’s lost their health care because of Obamacare? That would be me,” Cruz said, according to Politico. “I don’t have health care right now.”
In the past, Cruz and his family had been covered under a health insurance plan offered through the investment bank Goldman Sachs, where his wife Heidi was employed. However, Heidi Cruz went on unpaid leave in March to focus on her husband’s campaign, at which point the senator said he would be looking for replacement coverage through the Obamacare exchanges. Cruz was receiving coverage through private insurance as of December, according to a report from MSNBC.
It was unclear from the Politico report when Cruz was notified that his plan was being dropped and why he was unable to find a replacement plan by the the end of the year. Open enrollment through the exchanges for coverage beginning March 1 continues through January 31.
Cruz said at the New Hampshire event that his family was “in the process of finding another policy” and added that he hoped to have one by the end of the month.
“But our premiums we just got a quote, our premiums are going up 50 percent,” he said. “That’s happening all over the country. That’s happening in New Hampshire.”
The Cruz campaign did not immediately respond to TPM’s request for clarification about what happened with the candidate’s insurance coverage.
