Ted Cruz to sign up for insurance under the Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON, March 24 (UPI) -- Despite making a name for himself as an opponent of Obamacare, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., said Tuesday he's signing up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

Cruz said he's signing up for insurance under the healthcare exchange because he and his wife, Heidi Cruz, are losing their current health insurance. They were insured under Heidi's job at Goldman Sachs, but she's taking a leave of absence to join her husband on the campaign trail.

Cruz announced Monday he is joining the 2016 presidential race.

"We'll be getting new health insurance, and we'll presumably do it through my job with the Senate, and so we'll be on the federal exchange with millions of others on the federal exchange," Cruz told CNN.

"It was the case before Obamacare that federal employees could get health insurance through their jobs. That's not a new development," he said. "So yes, I'll get my insurance through my job like millions of other Americans."

When asked if he would accept a federal subsidy to partially fund his health insurance, Cruz said he would "follow the text of the law."

"I strongly oppose the exemption that President Obama illegally put in place for members of Congress because [Senate Minority Leader] Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats didn't want to be under the same rules as the American people," Cruz said.

Since Obama signed the ACA into law, Cruz has vehemently spoken out against it. During a battle over government funding that led to a 16-day government shutdown in 2013, he called Obamacare a "train wreck."

"I would do anything and I will continue to do anything I can to stop the train wreck that is Obamacare," Cruz said. "What I intend to do is continue standing with the American people to work to stop Obamacare, because it isn't working. It's costing people's jobs and it's taking away their healthcare."

In his first day of campaigning, Cruz raised $500,000. That includes funds raised during an event Monday night in New York City.

Sixty percent of the money raised came from large donors while 40 percent came in the form of online donations.

Meanwhile, the CDC on Tuesday released a report indicating the number of uninsured Americans fell by 11 million in the four years after Obama signed the ACA in 2010.