Governor Rick Perry announced his lack of intention to comply with key provisions of the law.
Texas Governor Rick Perry has expressed that the state will not be implementing some of the primary elements of the health care reforms, which include the Medicaid program’s expansion and the formation of an insurance exchange.
This means that the state with the largest number of uninsured residents will not be covered by the law.
This announcement places Texas in the top position in terms of being the highest populated state that has refused to implement the provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Equally, though, 24.6 percent of the population of that state, approximately 6.2 million people, do not have insurance coverage. This is the largest percentage in the entire country. Though California has more uninsured people, the percentage of the population is notably smaller.
Perry is not the only Republican governor who has rejected the health care reforms.
The two provisions are also being refused by Wisconsin, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana. They are holding off in the hopes that the election in November will bring a Republican win, and that there will be enough seats in Congress taken by Republicans that the law can be repealed.
Perry, who is already well known for his willingness to reject laws and changes to the state – having used his veto power more than any other Governor in the history of Texas – explained that “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.”
Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of the U.S. Health and Human Services, received a letter from Perry – had previously been running as a part of the presidential race, but dropped out as of January – that requested that she share his message with Obama, which is that he is in opposition to the provisions of the law “because both represent brazen intrusions into the sovereignty of our state.”
Keith Maley, a spokesperson for Sebelius, stated that the department intends to keep working with the various states to make sure that they have both the resources and the flexibility that they require in order to implement the health care reforms.