You may have heard that GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz does not have health insurance and that this is somehow Obamacare's fault, but as you might have suspected the truth is a little more complicated than that.
If you were to blame anyone for Cruz's lack of coverage, you might start with his insurance provider.
Cruz’s family used to be covered through a PPO plan with BlueCross BlueShield of Texas. But for 2016, the insurer decided to eliminate PPO plans and move to offering only HMO plans on the individual marketplace (which is becoming a bigger trend in the insurance industry). The insurance company announced this decision last July.
The July announcement gave people enrolled in BlueCross BlueShield’s plans a full five months to select a new HMO plan if they wanted to maintain coverage into the new year. Ted Cruz’s family apparently just didn’t sign up in time.
You can blame Ted Cruz and his family for not signing up for a new plan, or you can blame BlueCross for canceling his plan, but you can't blame Obamacare.
Well I suppose you can, and Ted Cruz certainly will, but you would be wrong.