In Dallas Speech, Obama Pressures Perry on Health Care Law
By JACKIE CALMES, NYT
DALLAS — President Obama arrived here on Wednesday night to defend the troubled health care law and highlight the efforts of local groups and volunteers who are trying to make the law work. At the same time he sought to pressure Gov. Rick Perry to expand Medicaid in Texas, the largest of the Republican-led states that have refused to participate in his Affordable Care Act.
In remarks to about 150 volunteers at Temple Emanu-El in North Dallas, Mr. Obama acknowledged that sometimes the effort to carry out the health care law can be "especially challenging here in the great Lone Star State,” he said, leading a woman in the audience to shout, “We’re up to the task!” An estimated 2.5 million Texas are uninsured.
“There’s no state that actually needs this more than Texas,” Mr. Obama said. “Here in just the Dallas area, 133,000 people who don’t currently have health insurance would immediate get health insurance without even having to go through the website” if Texas would just expand Medicaid. He noted that neighboring states have taken action because “this is a no-brainer.” Arkansas, he said, cut the number of uninsured by 14 percent in the last month by expanding Medicaid.
About half the states have left it to the federal government to set up insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, where people can shop for coverage plans, and have also refused federal funds to expand Medicaid to more citizens. Among the most adamant in rejecting the law has been Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, a Republican who is considering a second campaign for president.
(More here.)
DALLAS — President Obama arrived here on Wednesday night to defend the troubled health care law and highlight the efforts of local groups and volunteers who are trying to make the law work. At the same time he sought to pressure Gov. Rick Perry to expand Medicaid in Texas, the largest of the Republican-led states that have refused to participate in his Affordable Care Act.
In remarks to about 150 volunteers at Temple Emanu-El in North Dallas, Mr. Obama acknowledged that sometimes the effort to carry out the health care law can be "especially challenging here in the great Lone Star State,” he said, leading a woman in the audience to shout, “We’re up to the task!” An estimated 2.5 million Texas are uninsured.
“There’s no state that actually needs this more than Texas,” Mr. Obama said. “Here in just the Dallas area, 133,000 people who don’t currently have health insurance would immediate get health insurance without even having to go through the website” if Texas would just expand Medicaid. He noted that neighboring states have taken action because “this is a no-brainer.” Arkansas, he said, cut the number of uninsured by 14 percent in the last month by expanding Medicaid.
About half the states have left it to the federal government to set up insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, where people can shop for coverage plans, and have also refused federal funds to expand Medicaid to more citizens. Among the most adamant in rejecting the law has been Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, a Republican who is considering a second campaign for president.
(More here.)
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