Perry says Texas will not set up health-insurance exchange

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http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Perry-says-Texas-will-not-set-up-health-insurance-4041913.php

A day before a Friday deadline, Gov. Rick Perry announced Texas would not set up a key component of the Affordable Care Act, a health-insurance exchange that would allow individuals and small businesses to find coverage online at the most favorable price.
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"As long as the federal government has the ability to force unknown mandates and costs upon our citizens, while retaining the sole power in approving what an exchange looks like, the notion of a state exchange is merely an illusion," Perry said in the letter. "It would not be fiscally responsible to put hard-working Texans on the financial hook for an unknown amount of money to operate a system under rules that have not even been written."

Proponents of the exchange contend it will allow the state to significantly reduce the size of its uninsured population, the largest in the United States.
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This means our exchange will be set up by the federal government.

I expected as much from Gov. DoubleDownOnStupid.

[elleng]

1. Guess he's still an idiot.

No surprise.

[InsultComicDog]

2. well it might be better

than any exchange he would have set up, to use one provided by the federal government

[onestepforward]

9. That's my hope.

Perry would do a horrible job... on purpose.

[BlueStreak]

3. If each of these Red states show they are incapable of helping with any health care solututions

that just takes us much closer to a national health care system.

Thank you Governors Perry and Walker. We knew you were just bluffing when you said the states are better positioned to take care of this.

[TheDebbieDee]

5. "that just takes us much closer to a national health care system"

I agree. I think that whatever group wrote Obamacare was visionary in anticipating and overcoming some of the roadblocks that these assholes would throw in their path.

[BlueStreak]

12. "States rights"

This puts the red state governors in a really interesting position. They are always talking about "states rights". In this case, they really wan the right for the state to do nothing, while its citizens suffer. That is the "state's right" they are talking about. And the law cuts that off by saying, fine, if you can't do it, then the Federal govt will do it. That probably helps the law stand up in the SCOTUS.

It seems silly to develop 50 different systems to do what amounts to the same damn thing. It is essentially a version of Craigslist that just lists policies. There is some administration to make sure that the policies meet the ACA standards, and if the states don't want to do that, fine. It is the same set of standards nationally anyway, so it isn't like Aetna will offer a completely different program in Iowa than they offer in Nebraska.

There are already several private directories such as http://www.healthinsurancefinders.com/. The Federal government could contract with one of these to set up the registry nationally.

[Thinkingabout]

4. OOPS, again Perry is showing just why he needs to be replaced.

He jumped on the stimilus and "balanced" his state budget with the money but will say the stimilus did not help any, just a big liar as usual. He will do and say anything just to be blowing his mouth.

[malokvale77]

6. Good, we're better off with the Feds running it.

Texas doesn't do a very good job running any of the government programs. Perry would just find a way to steal the money anyway. Remember the Lite-up program.

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10. I remember the Lite-Up program:

http://www.kvue.com/news/128102813.html

August 19, 2011

AUSTIN -- As Texans battle through brutal summer heat, lawmakers may have pulled one over on the poor and the elderly.

According to a recent investigation by the Dallas Morning News, a state program called Lite-Up Texas collected about $130 million to help low income households with their electric bills. As it turns out, only $28 million will be given to them.

The House Senate Finance Committee approved a decision to redirect the funds in order to help balance the state budget.
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The GOP in Texas do a horrible job. They truly don't give a crap.

[Hoyt]

7. Hope the feds handle exchanges in a lot of states, including mine.

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11. I hope to have good news to report in the future.

Since me and my husband will be needing it, I'll have a front row seat

[defacto7]

8. K&R