Cruz blindly derped his way into a gigantic bear trap -- and now he's trying to weasel out of it

[bigtree]

Team Barack Obama ?@TeamBarackObama 10m10 minutes ago
Ted Cruz Is Trying and Failing to Weasel Out of His Obamacare Duplicity http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/ted-cruz-is-trying-and-failing-to-weasel-out-of-his-obamacare-duplicity_b_6958884.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics …

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is now apparently undecided how he'll buy insurance, backing away from his Obamacare announcement earlier in the week. Either way, Cruz is a master at what Al Franken used to call "weasel words" -- talking points that are carefully constructed to sound legitimate but really aren't at all. Come to think of it, Stephen Colbert famously referred to this sort of thing as "truthiness." Cruz is especially on his game when the topic of the complicated Affordable Care Act comes up because even top-shelf reporters don't quite grasp all of the ins and outs of Obamacare and, frankly, the administration hasn't been very strong at educating the public about what the law covers. And Cruz is exploiting every square mile of this supercolossal Obamacare ignorance gap.

For the last two days or so, Ted Cruz has repeatedly said that 1) as a member of the Senate, he's required to have an Obamacare policy, 2) in spite of this requirement he was on his wife's insurance policy until just recently, and 3) Congress is exempt from Obamacare because of an illegal move by the president. So, Obamacare is mandatory now, but it wasn't before, and it's actually not any more because of the allegedly "illegal" Obama exemption.

On Wednesday, Cruz sat down with a reporter from an outfit called The Daily Signal and delivered this troika of nonsense once again...

more weasel words from Cruz:

So suddenly the media goes, "Hahahaha! Gotcha!" Because Cruz is now signing up for Obamacare. Listen, I have zero intention of take any government subsidy or Obama subsidy. Rather, what I'm gonna do is pay on the marketplace for health insurance for my family, just like millions of Americans.

Well, he won't get a subsidy because he earns significantly more than 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level -- the upper limit to receive premium subsidies. Notice, though, that he didn't say "premium sharing" or "cost sharing" or "employer contribution." He said "subsidy." Why would he go on the Obamacare exchange, a politically dangerous move, other than for the better deal: comparable benefits and continued employer premium sharing, just like his wife's old plan? If he intends, on the other hand, to pay his premium dues entirely out-of-pocket without any premium sharing, why didn't he just enroll in COBRA through Goldman Sachs or buy insurance directly from a provider, sidestepping the political mess he's in? Obviously because he wants the premium sharing, which technically isn't a subsidy but rather a employee benefit -- just like millions of Americans receive through their employers.

It's one thing to abide by a law you don't like, which happens all the time, but it's another thing entirely to abide by a law you don't like even though you have numerous alternative options to choose from. Instead, he chose Obamacare, which he hates, and, worse, he clearly plans to accept the premium sharing "exemption" that he keeps saying was an illegal plot by the Senate Democrats. Why is he doing this? Because it's a fantastic deal and, financially, he'd be insane not to take it. Politically, however, it was a massive blunder. You know why the press is saying "gotcha!" right now? Because Cruz just blindly derped his way into a gigantic bear trap -- an unforced error -- and now he's trying to weasel out of it.


read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/ted-cruz-is-trying-and-failing-to-weasel-out-of-his-obamacare-duplicity_b_6958884.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

[guillaumeb]

1. Cruz is a Federal employee

ALL federal employees can purchase insurance through the FEHBP. The FEHBP is one of the models for the ACA.

Cruz is well aware of this. Yet another example of a lying weasel doing what he does best.

[Jim Lane]

5. I think you're wrong about the law.

You write, "ALL federal employees can purchase insurance through the FEHBP."

More precisely, almost all federal employees can purchase insurance through the FEHBP. The law is different for Cruz, however, because of a sleazy Republican maneuver.

The basic structure of the ACA is that most people would (continue to) get health insurance through their employers, with large employers now required to provide it. The exchanges were set up to accommodate the unemployed and people whose employers didn't provide coverage.

To this simple scheme came Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Pandering). He introduced an amendment requiring members of Congress and their staffs to use the exchanges. As he well knew, the exchanges were intended for people who didn't work for large employers, so this amendment made no sense. He also knew that all his colleagues knew that it made no sense. His plan was that the Democrats would vote down his silly amendment, which would give him the opportunity to bloviate about how Congress was exempting itself from Obamacare.

The Democrats, however, didn't want to be painted into that corner, so they crossed Grassley up by voting for his idiotic amendment.

One fact checker, in busting the lie that Congress exempted itself from Obamacare, explained the matter this way:

Here’s what the law’s text says: “Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and Congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are — (I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or (II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an Amendment made by this Act).”

. . . .

As mentioned, the federal government already offers health insurance to its workers. Like most employers, it covers part of workers’ health insurance costs. Because Congress and its staff are being treated differently than all other employers in order to force it to use the Obamacare marketplace, there was no language stating that the government could cover part of the premiums for Congress as it currently does.

Last month {August 2013}, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management issued a rule saying that, yes, this was OK to do, as long as the premium coverage wasn’t more than it is for other federal workers.

So Carnival Cruz is among the tiny percentage of federal employees who cannot purchase insurance through the FEHBP.

The consequence is that members of Congress and their staffs are being treated differently from all other federal employees -- indeed, differently from all other Americans who work for large employers. As noted in that fact-checking column, this has given rise to the Republican lie that Congress exempted itself from the law. They charge that Congress gets special treatment because the Grassley Amendment passed. Of course, the reality is that they'd be making the same charge if the Grassley Amendment had been defeated.

[guillaumeb]

8. you are correct

I forgot about the GOP amendment. Thanks for the correction

[gratuitous]

2. He can always go without insurance

He's all healthy and stuff, right? Or he can buy a health insurance policy on the open market. Good news for Ted: He can't be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition, thanks to the Affordable Care Act.

But just to show how hard core he is, maybe he can find a policy that doesn't cover pre-existing conditions. You know, just to stick it to Obama.

[elleng]

3. The rules about Health Benefits for Members of Congress and Certain Congressional Staff

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43194.pdf

[czarjak]

4. please...

Stop casting aspersions on weasels.

[7wo7rees]

6. His wife can take Cobra.

He has any number of private options.

What is he up to?

I feel like the Dixie Chicks.

I am from Texas. He is a fraud.

Very sad.

[Cha]

7. IOW.. the tedster's MO. DERP..

Mahalo bigtree!