Rick Perry: No ObamaCare for Texas

Add Texas to the growing list of states opting out of key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Gov. Rick Perry sent a letter to Kathleen Sebelius today saying that he would not expand Medicaid or offer a state insurance exchange, Politico reports. "I stand proudly with the growing chorus of governors who reject the PPACA power grab," he wrote. "Thank God and our nation's founders that we have the right to do so."

Perry argued that the "Orwellian-named" PPACA wouldn't protect patients or provide affordable care. "What they would do is make Texas a mere appendage of the federal government when it comes to health care" and "threaten even Texas with financial ruin." The decision affects 1.3 million Texans who would be eligible under a Medicaid expansion. (More Rick Perry stories.)