AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Gov. Rick Perry is calling Medicaid a failure as he defends his decision to oppose any expansion of the program as part of the national health-care overhaul.
Perry told Fox News Monday that adding uninsured Texans to Medicaid -- as proposed by the overhaul recently upheld by the Supreme Court -- "is not unlike adding a thousand people to the Titanic." He says Texas won't participate in the expansion or create a health care exchange required by the law.
He says every Texan is able "to have access to health care" and the state should get to decide how to pay for it.
The state has more than 6.2 million uninsured people.
Perry announced he would oppose an insurance exchange and a Medicaid expansion in a letter Monday.