Rick Perry wishes the federal government would stay out of his state's affairs, except for the part where the majority of Texas' healthcare costs are covered by the federal government.
HARRIS: Governor, quick follow-up. Why are so many people in Texas uninsured?
PERRY: Well, bottom line is that we would not have that many people uninsured in the state of Texas if you didn’t have the federal government. We’ve had requests in for years at the Health and Human Services agencies to have that type of flexibility where we could have menus, where we could have co-pays, and the federal government refuses to give us that flexibility.
We know for a fact that, given that freedom, the states can do a better job of delivering health care. And you’ll see substantially more people not just in Texas, but all across the country have access to better health care.
It's nice to see Rick Perry subtlely admit that Texas has an extraordinarily high amount of uninsured residents, but here's the real problem with this statement -- if not for those big federal government programs known as Medicare and Medicaid, Texas would be destitute.
Federal funds cover 60 percent of all Medicaid costs in the state of Texas. How exactly would the state make up that difference if you "didn't have the federal government?"
The really ironic thing is, the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans such as Rick Perry lovingly refer to as Obamacare, will actually lessen the burden on states in the near future. Ending the Affordable Care Act, which the entire Republican party is campaigning on, would swell the cost to states and skyrocket medical-related bankruptcies. Smart.