U.S. Sen.Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, is running for president – but first, in an odd nod to politics, he is enrolling in health care plan as part of the Affordable Care Act legislation that has been a hallmark of President Obama’s tenure and a frequent target of Cruz, a fellow Harvard Law School alumnus as Obama.

CNN reports Cruz told its reporter Dana Bash that he would sign up for Obamacare in part due to necessity: Sinc Cruz declared his intent to join the 2016 presidential race, his wife Heidi Cruz, an executive at Golman Sachs in Houston, had to take unpaid leave and thus lost her and her husband access to health benefits from the investment bank.

Cruz said even though he would join ACA’s marketplaces, he was vague about rejecting the provision in the law thar provides government aid to lawmakers and congressional staff members to enroll in Obamacare.

“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 told CNN’s Bash.

CNN called the situation with Cruz enrolling in ACA “a deeply ironic development” for the typically “conservative firebrand” but he remained nonchalant despite still showing defiance to Obama’s liberal policy.

“What is problematic about Obamacare is that it is killing millions of jobs in this country and has killed millions of jobs,” Cruz told CNN.

“It has forced millions of people into part time work. It has caused millions of people to lose their insurance, to lose their doctors and to face skyrocketing insurance premiums. That is unacceptable.”