Ali Rawaf
That's right, after months of Perry's ranting about the new health care reform, Texans actually find the reform different than what their governor has been telling them. Perry has fought the health care reform aggressively and kept branding it as another way the Federal Government is trying to impose its jurisdiction on the state (especially around elections time) but at least in one part of the reform, states were encouraged to run their own programs under government funding.
The Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan is a requirement by the new health care for every state to establish a pool for those who are uninsured with pre-existing conditions. This is where it gets interesting; Texas already had high-risk insurance pool so all that was required by the new law is for Texas is to adapt a newer Federal version of the pool and implement a few more rule that would cover more children and more adults in Texas under lower premiums than under the Texas pool. The San Antonio Communities reports on how Texas families are actually benefiting from the new reform. Perry refused the program, leaving room for the Federal Government to run its own high-risk pool in Texas in addition to the existing one, "You can't run around saying the federal government wants to take over Texas, but then when we have an opportunity to do it ourselves leave it to the federal government," said State Representative Garnet F. Coleman, pointing out the inconsistency in Perry's decision.
A recent Gallup poll shows that Texas ranks as the top state with highest number of uninsured which has reached almost 30%. Such numbers, about which I am sure our governor is aware, should be considered while making such decisions as accepting Federal Program to help uninsured Texans. This is not new for Texas, a few months ago, Perry rejected Race to the Top , another federal program that would provide more funds for the state's educational system. As the race for governor post nears, Texans should hope that Perry wouldn't make more decisions that wouldn't serve their interests just because they are federal programs (which seems to be a pattern in Perry's campaign).
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