During one of his campaign stops on Jan. 21, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz told his audience that he is not currently covered by any health insurance. He used his story as a launching point for criticism against the ACA, despite one of his claims running contrary to current insurance figures.
"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 shared with a Manchester, New Hampshire crowd.
He said that his coverage ended because his insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas, dropped its individual policies last Dec. 31.
"So our health care got canceled, we got a notice in the mail, Blue Cross Blue Shield was leaving the market. And so we’re in the process of finding another policy," Cruz said.
Previously, the Cruz family was covered under a health insurance plan provided by Goldman Sachs, where Cruz’s wife Heidi was employed. On March, Heidi went on unpaid leave to help in her husband’s campaign. It was at that point that Ted Cruz said that he would consider finding alternative health coverage options through the ACA exchanges, settling for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas.
Cruz said that his family was "in the process of finding another policy" following Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s untimely cancellations.
He took the opportunity to criticize the ACA with his story.
"But our premiums we just got a quote, our premiums are going up 50 percent," he argued. "That’s happening all over the country. That’s happening in New Hampshire."
Although premiums increased throughout the country this year, none of them actually surged by up to 50%, as Cruz claimed.
