[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 101 (Monday, July 9, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              GOVERNOR PERRY'S LETTER TO KATHLEEN SEBELIUS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. LOUIE GOHMERT

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, July 9, 2012

  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following letter.

                                       Office of the Governor,

                                                     July 9, 2012.
     Hon. Kathleen Sebelius,
     Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 
         Washington, DC.
        Dear Secretary Sebelius: In the ObamaCare plan, the 
     federal government sought to force the states to expand their 
     Medicaid programs by in the words of the Supreme Court 
     putting a gun to their heads. Now that the ``gun to the 
     head'' has been removed, please relay this message to the 
     President: I oppose both the expansion of Medicaid as 
     provided in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 
     and the creation of a so-called ``state'' insurance exchange, 
     because both represent brazen intrusions into the sovereignty 
     of our state.
       I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who 
     reject the PPACA power grab. Thank God and our nation's 
     founders that we have the right to do so.
       Neither a ``state'' exchange nor the expansion of Medicaid 
     under the Orwellian-named PPACA would result in a better 
     ``patient protection'' or in more ``affordable care.'' What 
     they would do is make Texas a mere appendage of the federal 
     government when it comes to health care.
       The PPACA does not truly allow states to create and operate 
     their own exchanges. Instead, it gives the federal government 
     the final say as to which insurance plans can operate in a 
     so-called ``state'' exchange, what benefits those plans must 
     provide, and what price controls and cost limits will apply. 
     It leaves many questions to be answered later through federal 
     ``future rulemaking.'' In short, it essentially treats the 
     states like subcontractors through which the federal 
     government can control the insurance markets and pursue 
     federal priorities rather than those of the individual 
     states.
       Through its proposed expansion of Medicaid, the PPACA would 
     simply enlarge a broken system that is already financially 
     unsustainable. Medicaid is a system of inflexible mandates, 
     one-size-fits-all requirements, and wasteful, bureaucratic 
     inefficiencies. Expanding it as the PPACA provides would only 
     exacerbate the failure of the current system, and would 
     threaten even Texas with financial ruin.
       I look forward to implementing health care solutions that 
     are right for the people of Texas. I urge you to support me 
     in that effort. In the meantime, the PPACA's unsound 
     encroachments will find no foothold here.
           Sincerely,
                                                       Rick Perry,
     Governor.

                          ____________________