Perry: Texas Will Not Expand Medicaid
Tom Mayo, law professor at SMU's Dedman School of Law, talks about Gov. Perry's decision to opt out of Medicaid expansion in Texas.
By Greg Janda
Governor Rick Perry says Texas will not expand Medicaid coverage or implement a state insurance exchange, two provisions of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare.
"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 stated in a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
"I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who reject the Obamacare power grab. 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," Perry continued.
SMU Law Professor Tom Mayo specializes in healthcare and questions the wisdom of that choice.
"By Governor Perry saying 'no' to a state insurance exchange he is inviting the federal government to come in and do it for us," says Mayo.
"I don’t see how that protects state sovereignty. "...