Shoutout to Optimistic Chad of Political Jesus for the inspiration for the graphic!

In a fit of partisan anger, Governor Rick Perry sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announcing his intention to not only decline the funds for Medicaid expansion in the state of Texas, but also refuse to set up insurance exchanges, which would allow those who don’t qualify for Medicaid/Medicare to purchase health insurance at less expensive rates.

After informing the Obama administration of his intentions in a letter, Perry went on Fox News to explain his position. “If anyone had any doubt, we wanted to put it clearly to bed that Texas wasn’t going to be a part of expanding socializing of our medicine,” he said. “So we’re not going to participate in any exchanges. We’re not going to expand Medicaid.”

One in four Texans are uninsured, the highest rate of any state. The Medicaid expansion would cover 49.4 percent of uninsured Texans by 2019, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. The program is broadened to cover Americans within 133 percent of the poverty line — currently the eligibility for a working Texan parent cuts off at 27 percent. The federal government will cover the full cost of the first three years and pay 90 percent thereafter. – TalkingPointsMemo

Despite Gov. Perry’s claims that Texas has “some of the finest health care in the world”, one in four Texans is uninsured.

So, sorry ~6 million uninsured Texans, Rick Perry hates Obama more than he cares about the health of his citizenry.

Related articles

• Rick Perry says Obamacare ‘will find no foothold’ in Texas (redalertpolitics.com)
• Perry ‘proudly’ refuses health care to 1.2 million low-income Texans (rawstory.com)
• Rick Perry’s Plan To Cover Texas’ Uninsured: Pretend They Don’t Exist (thinkprogress.org)
• Rick Perry Announces Texas Won’t Implement The Affordable Care Act, Leaving Millions of Texans Uninsured (thinkprogress.org)