AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Gov. Rick Perry says the nation’s new health care law has dampened the optimism he normally feels with the coming of a new year.
In a Dallas Morning News op-ed Wednesday, the Republican predicts that the “delays, deceit and debacles” that marked the law’s 2013 debut will continue.
Texas has the highest rate of uninsured Americans, but Perry won’t expand Medicaid for the working poor under the White House’s signature initiative.
The state also refused to create its own health care exchanges, forcing Texans to use the problem-plagued federal website to enroll for private health insurance.
Perry wrote that the federal website is a $600 million debacle.
He also said the law will increase insurance premiums and could mean that 80 million Americans lose employee-sponsored health insurance policies in 2014.