Justin's Political Corner

Texas will not expand Medicaid or implement a state health exchange following the Supreme Court’s upholding of the constitutionality of Obamacare, Gov. Rick Perry (R) said Monday.

“If anyone was in doubt, we in Texas have no intention to implement so-called state exchanges or to expand Medicaid under 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 said in a statement Monday. His office said that he will be sending a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Perry joins a growing list of GOP governors who say they won’t implement the two provisions, including Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.

The federal government, however, will implement the health insurance exchanges for the states if they don’t do so.

The Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate, but struck down the penalty in the law for states to lose their Medicaid funding if they do not participate in the expansion, which covers those with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty line.

The Medicaid expansion would reduce the number of uninsured in Texas. The state has the highest rate of uninsured in the country, at 25 percent, or 6.2 million people.It also has the worst health care services and delivery in the nation according to the federal Agency for Health Care Research and Quality. 

H/T: HuffPo