Ted Cruz Talks About His Alternative To Obamacare
Ted Cruz likes to use any microphone or television camera he’s presented with as a platform to bash the Affordable Care Act. I honestly can’t recall the last interview I’ve seen him give, or speech he’s given, where he didn’t obsess about “repealing Obamacare.”
And while it’s easy to bash the healthcare law — or in the case of Ted Cruz, just blatantly lie about it — it’s a lot harder to name an alternative solution. Which is probably why 3 1/2 years later, Republicans have yet to do just that.
Well, during an interview on CNN with Chris Cuomo, Ted Cruz was asked what his alternative to “Obamacare” was exactly:
CUOMO: What do you say to them, Senator? When they say, “Please help me”, what is the fix that you offer them? I looked at the list of bills that you’ve sponsored. There’s not one that offers a solution to the current problems with health care except to get rid of the existing law. Is that enough?
CRUZ: Well, that’s the only solution that will work. All of these Band-Aid fixes that the president is pushing, the congressional Democrats are pushing won’t fix the problem. Every one of those bills, they have great titles, like “if you like your plan you can really, really, really keep them”, but if they were passed into law, it wouldn’t fix the problem for the 5 million people who have lost their health insurance, they wouldn’t get it back.
CUOMO: You don’t think you have a responsibility as a U.S. senator to do better than that in terms of offering a solution for what to do next?
CRUZ: Well, I appreciate your trying to lecture me in the morning. Thank you for that.
Cuomo: Not at all, Senator. I’m worried, the same as you. Anybody who looks at the situation has worries. Families need health insurance.
Cruz: Sir, if you’re worried, did you speak out for the five million people who’ve lost their health insurance? Did you speak out…?
Cuomo: We’ve been covering it doggedly and I’m sure you watch the show. The problem is I don’t have the power to fix it. You do. That’s what a U.S. Senator does. You sponsor law. You know this. It’s not a lecture, it’s a concern. I’m asking what are you going to do about it?
Cruz: Well, and I share that concern and have every day been working to highlight the millions of people who have lost their job because of Obamacare, the millions of people who have been forced into part-time work. There are single moms, there are young people, Hispanics, African Americans, people struggling who are now on part-time work. You can’t feed your kids with 29 hours a week. There’s over five million people who have lost their health insurance and the way to fix that is to stop this broken law.
So, there you go, America. There’s Senator Ted “repeal Obamacare” Cruz’s alternative to the Affordable Care Act if he and his party of Scrooges ever succeed in repealing Obamacare.
