Fantasyland?
Rick Perry claims all Texans already have health care: Defies belief in Fox Newsappearance on Obamacare rejection
Texas has the highest rate of uninsured citizens in the country — a fourth of Texans lack medical coverage — but that hasn't swayed Gov. Rick Perry into implementing Obamacare.
Less than two weeks after the Supreme Court upheld the vast majority of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Rick Perry announced on Monday morning that Texas would not expand its Medicaid program or create a state-wide health insurance exchange.
"They would only make Texas a mere appendage of the federal government when it comes to health care."
"I will not be party to socializing healthcare and bankrupting my state in direct contradiction to our Constitution and our founding principles of limited government," Perry said in a statement. "Neither a 'state' exchange nor the expansion of Medicaid under this program would result in better 'patient protection' or in more 'affordable care.'
"They would only make Texas a mere appendage of the federal government when it comes to health care."
The Supreme Court ruled that states cannot be penalized for failing to comply with the Medicaid expansion that is part of Obamacare. Officials with the Department of Health and Human Services have said that the federal government will set up a Health Insurance Exchange for Texas if the state fails to have one in place by January 2014.
Talking about his decision on Fox News, Perry said that "every Texan has health care" adding "We don’t trust this administration and we don’t trust Washington, D.C."
While he couches his decision with references to "freedom" and "socialism," the practical effect is that the state will lose hundreds of millions of dollars provided by the federal government to offer Medicaid to needy adults, a Texas health insurance exchange will be run by the federal government and, presumably, Texas will continue to lead the nation in citizens lacking access to medical care.
