![This Is Gov. Rick Perry's Scathing Letter to HHS Saying That Texas Won't Implement Parts of 'Obamacare](https://www.theblaze.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZWJsYXplLmNvbS93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAxMi8wNy9SaWNrLXBlcnJ5MS5qcGciLCJleHBpcmVzX2F0IjoxNzYyMTYzNDkxfQ.5SVwqMBwS4DUZQVo8Q512gOFlWUasFg0qG_k80CgCZ8/image.jpg?width=980&quality=85)
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This Is Gov. Rick Perry's Scathing Letter to HHS Saying That Texas Won't Implement Parts of 'Obamacare
July 09, 2012
"I will not be party to socializing healthcare and bankrupting my state in direct contradiction to our Constitution..."
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius should expect a scathing letter today from Texas Gov. Rick Perry explaining that the Lone Star State will not implement parts of the Affordable Care Act, affectionately known as "Obamacare," even after the controversial law was upheld by the Supreme Court last month.
Perry said in the letter Monday that Texas will not enact a state insurance exchange or expand Medicaid as laid out in the health care plan. The Texas governor previously joined other state lawmakers and vowed to fight Obamacare in court but never indicated his state would not comply with parts of the federal law.
(Related: TX Lawmakers Vow to Fight Obamacare, Ron Paul Explains Why Bureaucrats Will Call the Shots)
"If anyone was in doubt, we in Texas have no intention to implement so-called state exchanges or to expand Medicaid under Obamacare," Perry said in a statement. "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."
From Perry's letter (read all of it here):
In the ObamaCare plan, the federal government sought to force the states to expand their Medicaid programs by – in the words of the Supreme Court – putting a gun to their heads. Now that the "gun to the head" has been rernoved, please relay this message to the President: I oppose both the expansion of Medicaid as provided in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the creation of a so-called "state" insurance exchange, because both represent brazen intrusions into the sovereignty of our state
I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who reject the PPACA power grab. Thank God and our nation's founders that we have the right to do so.
Neither a"state" exchange nor the expansion of Medicaid under the Orwellian-named PPACA would result in better "patient protection" or in more "affordable care." What they would do is make Texas a mere appendage of the federal government when it comes to health care.
Perry went on to say the health care law does not allow states to "create and operate their own exchanges" but instead gives the federal government the final word as to which insurance plans can operate in the "so-called" state exchange.
Instead, Perry is advocating for the "allocation of Medicaid funding in block grants so each state can tailor the program to specifically serve the needs of its unique challenges."
Perry also said the expansion of Medicaid would "enlarge a broken system that is already financially unsustainable."
"I look forward to implementing health care solutions that are right for the people of Texas. I urge you to support me in that effort. In the meantime, the PPACA's unsound encroachments will find no foothold here," Perry added.
If Texas follows through and refuses to implement the health insurance exchanges, the federal government can choose to enact the changes itself, Fox News reports.
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