Jeb Bush has an ObamaCare problem

(Image credit: ANDY JACOBSOHN/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

This could get awkward. Since wrapping up his tenure as Florida governor seven years ago, Jeb Bush has been quietly building a fortune for himself, raking in millions of dollars from consulting gigs, real estate investments, and that staple for out-of-office politicians, speeches.

Yet Bush has also netted more than $2 million from his work as a board member with Tenet Health Care, according to The New York Times' Michael Barbaro. That tie could prove troublesome for Bush if he runs for president in 2016 because Tenet, Barbaro writes, "aggressively encouraged Americans to sign up for insurance under the [Affordable Care Act] and trumpeted the legislation as a boon to the company’s finances."

Though Bush is no fan of the law — he once called it "flawed to its core" — his association with a group that effusively endorsed it could be a stain on his resume. ObamaCare is such an anathema to conservatives and the Tea Party that there are efforts afoot to oust members of the party leadership who refused to play along with the government shutdown last year in an ill-fated attempt to defund the law.

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Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.

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