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Texas Governor Calls Obamacare A ‘Criminal Act’

Gage Skidmore
/
flickr.com

Speaking to an audience in New Jersey yesterday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry called the opening of the Obamacare health insurance marketplaces a “felony” against young people.

“If this health care law is forced upon this country, the young men and women in this audience are the ones who are really going to pay the price,” Perry said. “And that, I will suggest to you, reaches to the point of being a felony toward them and their future. That is a criminal act, from my perspective, to put that type of burden on them, to mortgage their future like that. America cannot stand that. America cannot accept that.”

RealClearPolitics reported Perry’s commentsat a campaign stop for New Jersey GOP Senate candidate Steve Lonegan.

Texas is one of 36 states that refused to create an Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace, opting to let the federal government do it.  Perry also refused to expand Medicaid to cover more of the lowest-income population.

Yesterday, 2.8 million people visitedhealthcare.gov  to sign up for insurance coverage on the exchanges.

Former KERA reporter BJ Austin spent more than 25 years in broadcast journalism, anchoring and reporting in Atlanta, New York, New Orleans and Dallas. Along the way, she covered Atlanta City Hall, the Georgia Legislature and the corruption trials of Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards.