Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio

The Latino community is among those benefitting the most from President Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA). At the same time, the rabid opposition to this law, which would rather shut down the government than fund the ACA, is also represented by two U.S. senators of Latino origin.

It is not unusual to have Hispanics on both sides of the political debate, showing the diversity of opinions that exist in the community. What is uncommon is for Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida to lead the strongest opposition to the so-called Obamacare—seeking to win the GOP presidential nomination in 2016 by attracting the vote of the Tea Party and Latinos.

Rubio took on a key role in the immigration reform that the Senate recently approved. Because of his positive work on behalf of immigrants, conservatives began to dislike him. Therefore, now he has taken one of the toughest stances against health care reform.

Cruz, on the other hand, is concerned about Latinos losing their jobs because of the health care law. However, he has not offered solutions to provide them coverage other than the well-worn idea of health care accounts and tax deductions.

These are simple generalities, because, let’s be clear, neither of these senators has introduced concrete legislation to increase health care coverage—and neither did lawmakers who voted dozens of times to repeal the health care law. All they have are complaints and accusations that have little to do with Latinos. As the community with the largest percentage of uninsured, Latinos are without a doubt among those who will benefit the most from the expantion of medical coverage.

Therefore, it is surprising that both Cruz and Rubio want to seem interested in the well-being of Latinos, when their priority is gaining brownie points among ultraconservatives at the expense of the health of the Hispanic community.