Perry: Texas will stand against 'Obamacare'
(CNN) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday the Lone Star State will not execute major parts of the Affordable Care Act, the controversial federal health care law recently upheld by the Supreme Court.
"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," the Republican governor said in a statement.
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In a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Perry said Texas has no intention to "expand Medicaid under Obamacare" or implement the so-called state exchanges, which are intended to lower costs for everyone by expanding the pool of insured and spreading out risk.
Perry, who ran an unsuccessful bid for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, took issue with those who claim the reformed health care system would lower costs and enhance patient protection.
The governor said the law's provisions "would only make Texas a mere appendage of the federal government when it comes to health care."
He joins a growing list of other GOP governors who have so far said they'll delay implementation of the law. They include neighboring Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Gov. Rick Scott of Florida.
"We have the best interest of our citizens, not the federal government," he said Monday on Fox News. "How we pay for it and how we deliver it should be our decision."
The governor instead suggested allocating Medicaid in block grants, allowing each state to tailor the program to its specific needs.
According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute, 14 states and the District of Columbia have made "significant progress" toward implementing reforms, while another 19 states have made "moderate progress," leaving 17 states - or about a third - that have yet to change their laws or take other steps toward implementation.
Asked Monday about a new report by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which ranked Texas dead last in terms of delivering health services, Perry forcefully hit back against the new study.
"The idea that this federal government, which doesn't like Texas to begin with, can pick and choose and come up with some data and say Texas has the worst health care system in the world is just fake and false on its face," Perry said, pointing to the state's renowned health care facilities.
This isn't the first time Perry has refused to accept federal monies. In 2010, the governor did not take funds for the government's "Race to the Top" education program, citing the state would be required to replace state testing standards with national requirements.
- CNN's Tom Cohen contributed to this report.
From the USDA Rural Development – Texas website:
Since fiscal year 2009, over $57 million has been awarded throughout Texas to improve healthcare facilities and equipment, almost $10 million has been granted to libraries, schools and museums to increase educational offerings throughout rural communities, while over $44 million was invested to purchase or maintain emergency response vehicles and repair or build public safety facilities. Additionally, almost $43 million has been awarded to Texas rural communities to repair, maintain or build new public infrastructure, transportation systems, farmers markets and food pantries.
Will the governor be returning all those socialized dollars anytime soon the the non-Texan American taxpayers?
Just vote this animal out....,simple way out!!!
Perry has a real problem the separation bewteen the super rich and poor is very wide in Texas..They have the most minimum wage workers in the country..and those workers have no health insurance..and they cost the local hospital lot of money in Free Loaders in their emergency rooms, running up the bill that he hospitals have to absorb..and Texas already has a 27 billion state deficit going on right now...
Did Rick Perry checkout the latest news on Massachusetts to see how bad the Hospitals are doing now under the Romneycare policy..It is almost identical to Obamacare...They must really be hurting..Hmm No what the Massachusetts hospitals are all reporting big profits..Why?..Because the cost of Free Loaders is down by 50%...and the profits are up...Gee that Romneycare bill is making the Hospitals and doctors richer..Wow....I thought the GOP liked profits..I thought the GOP was for people being responsible for their own Health Care Expenses..
Not surprising as Perry (like AZ.'s Jan Brewer) stand at the forefront of the secessionst movement in America. To be kind (ahem!), Mr. Perry is just giving all those less than well-to-do people in Texas the "freedom" to not have health insurance- with all of the attendant consequences-ill-health, reduced quality of life, and death.
Hold a sec....this guy still in office??!!! You poor poor Texans.
"I thought the GOP liked profits"
Yeah, but they hate minorities, immigrants, the poor and anyone who won't just live as they're told.
always a MORON, this guy doesn't have a brain cell working.
So yet again, the southern states are at the forefront of fighting this in the name of "limited government" (so how to forced ultrasounds and controlling abortion fit into limited government?)
They continue to throw their own citizens under the bus in the process in the name of ideological purity, rank at the bottom in numerous quality of life measures and are net importers of tax dollars from the rest of the country.
I am beginning to think the North LOST the Civil War.
I guess republicans are going with poor people don't vote
Governor Perry is forgetting about his constituents who need to have new guidlines for medical care. Right now they do not have insurance and must use emergency rooms for the most basic of needs. That causes hospitals to need more and more money to cover the costs. Insured American are paying for that care. We need to give people access to health care to make sure that everyone can get the care they need. Perry has thousands of people in his state who do not have access to care. He is using political decisions to prevent medical care. Once again he shows us why he should not be President.
This is true freedom. The people that want the expansion of Medicaid can move to states that expand the program. The people that do not want the expansion can move to states that choose not to expand. Everyone has the freedom to live in states that, on this topic, meet their choice. And we all are for freedom of choice, are we not? Or would you rather everyone be forced to be the same and not have a choice?
Why are all these Repub governors so against helping their people? What they are doing is treasonous; refusing to implement the exchanges, refusing federal funds for Medicaid expansion, implementing voter ID laws to disenfranchise voters, lessening early voting, vaginal probes, defunding Planned Parenthood, etc. Why are we allowing them to get away with all of this?? WAKE UP PEOPLE – they are working against us!
Hey Rick why don't you say the same thing when you give billions of dollars to big oil. Oh yeah, they have you on speed dial for all the legislation they want passed.