Kansas’ Huelskamp, like Texas’ Cruz, uses the same Obamacare he loathes

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t the only ardent critic of the Affordable Care Act in Congress signing up for health coverage under a law he’s vowed to repeal.

Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp, chairman of the Tea Party Caucus in the House, says he, too, has enrolled for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act despite repeatedly voting to repeal it.

“For the record — I am on Obamacare — yee-hah!” Huelskamp recently confessed to constituents at a town hall meeting in north central Kansas, according to The Clay Center Dispatch. “My wife complains about it all the time.”

They have a choice. Some are choosing Obamacare.

Cruz, a Republican senator running for president, said this week that his family planned to use Affordable Care Act insurance because they’d no longer be able to get health coverage through his wife’s employer. She’s taking unpaid leave from her job to join Cruz on the campaign trail.

Like Cruz, Huelskamp has railed for years against the Affordable Care Act — in speeches in Congress, on the stump during elections, in town hall meetings with voters, in emails to donors and in statements to the press and on television.

In a petition Huelskamp circulated among supporters to de-fund the Affordable Care Act, he described the health care law as a “disaster” and the “most despised legislation in recent American history.”

Asked whether he sees any contradiction between his outspoken opposition to the law and his family’s enrollment, Huelskamp said in a written statement that the law forces members of Congress to sign up.

Like millions of other American families, he said, “we object to this expensive, liberty-attacking mandate.”

It’s true that members of Congress who want to take advantage of health benefits offered through their employer — the federal government — must use plans offered through a government-run exchange in the District of Columbia.

But that’s not the whole story.

Huelskamp could have foregone coverage completely, or shunned the exchange and purchased a family health plan directly from a private broker.

But purchasing insurance on the private market would mean Huelskamp, a married father of four children, would have to forgo the employer contribution that the government offers to offset the cost of members’ premiums.

That contribution could be worth nearly $1,000 per month for members with families, according to the Congressional Research Office.

The salary for a rank-and-file member of Congress is $174,000 a year.

Huelskamp, like some other House members, already saves on rent in Washington by crashing nightly on his office couch with a sleeping bag — which he says allows him to get more work done.

Some members have said they will use the exchanges to purchase health care, but plan to return the federal contribution money to the U.S. Treasury.

Huelskamp’s spokesman did not immediately respond to a request to clarify whether Huelskamp had accepted federal dollars to help pay for his premium. He did, however, email a reporter a link to a National Journal article that lists other high-profile Republicans who’ve enrolled through the Affordable Care Act exchanges, including Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida.

It’s still Huelskamp’s hope to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which he describes as a government monstrosity.

He isn’t very happy with his health care plan, anyway, he said in his statement.

“Because of Obamacare, my premiums and deductible went up — and my coverage went down,” Huelskamp said.

This story was originally published March 27, 2015 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Kansas’ Huelskamp, like Texas’ Cruz, uses the same Obamacare he loathes."