Newly reelected Texas Governor Rick Perry already said on Morning Joe that Texas and other states should be able to opt out of Social Security. On CNN's State of the Union, he told Candy Crowley that they should be able to opt out of Medicaid as well. Perry said that Texas would create their own insurance program for them which I assume would be privatized given Perry's track record, so basically anyone who could not afford to pay into that system would be hung out to dry.
Crowley asked Perry why this would be good for his state, given that they would receive 60% of the money to fund this from the federal government, and Perry basically tried to pretend that Texas isn't a welfare state that doesn't already receive more in federal funds than it pays out. Sadly, Candy Crowley couldn't be bothered to point out to "that's our money" Rick Perry that his state is doing exactly that.
I pity any of our liberal readers from Texas with having this man reelected as Governor. My own state (Missouri) isn't much better with just who got elected to office throughout the state, so I can relate.
Think Progress has more from this interview where Perry and Pawlenty showed their hypocrisy and where their words don't add up to their actions on federal dollars going to their states as well -- Pawlenty And Perry Tout Opposition To Health Law, While Accepting Some Of Its Funding.
I keep wondering when their lies are finally going to come back to haunt the Republicans despite the cover our corporate media keeps giving them. Eventually reality is going come back to bite them in the ass with the electorate because the voters finally start paying attention after enough pain has been inflicted on them to the fact that their policies are not meant to protect the working class in America.
Transcript below the fold via CNN.
CROWLEY: Governor Perry, one of the things I believe you say in your book -- and forgive me for not having read it yet -- is that you think perhaps dropping out of Medicaid, the state dropping out of Medicaid, and you have even talked about dropping out of the children's health insurance program, otherwise known as CHIPs. You've got the last time I looked about 3.6 million children disabled or poor in Texas who would then lose their health benefits. What happens to them if you opt out of Medicaid?
PERRY: What we think works very well -- and I totally agree with what Tim was talking about from the standpoint of those bureaucrats who are shooting these huge numbers forward -- but let me back to the issue at hand.
We would create our own insurance program for them. And I've had a waiver request for four years--
CROWLEY: But the government gives you 60 percent of the money to fund this. How does that add up to help you?
PERRY: We understand that's our money. You talked about us taking stimulus dollars. We send hundreds of billions of dollars to Washington, D.C., and generally don't get very much of it back. We'd just as soon not send as much money to Washington, D.C. Let us in the states come up with the ideas. I can promise you, Pawlenty and Jindal and Barbour and some Democrat governors across this country as well will come up with really good ideas about how to deliver health care. Why not let us pick and choose, rather than this one-size-fits-all mentality that comes out of Washington, D.C., with strings attached?
I've had a waiver for four years in front of Department of Health and Human Services, and haven't gotten an answer yet, to free us from the strings from Washington, D.C. That is the issue at hand. Let the states be the laboratories of innovation and the good ideas will come out of that.
And I can promise you, Pawlenty and I will go snitch from each other and put them in place in our states.
