Texans Without Health Insurance

Yesterday's last hour of oral arguments pro and con concerning the Affordable Care Act were about Medicaid. In Texas, Governor Perry's "plan" to refuse Medicaid dollars on a states' rights basis would  result in the numbers shown in this bar graph from Progress Texas.

The Justices' questions and comments made clear their disdain for the Governor's position. My own disdain is based on two facts. The current percentage of Texans without health insurance is the highest in the nation (Kaiser State Health Facts). Nationwide, federal tax money is going to pay 93% of the cost of expanding Medicaid coverage, as per the pie chart below from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

After 2022, Texans will be required to contribute more of their tax dollars. I'm not going to try and predict what that dollar amount will be, but the current national average is 57% state tax dollars and 43% federal tax dollars. This is the "coercion" of which Governor Perry speaks. My view is that whatever governor and legislature Texas has over that time span will have financial incentives to provide care for Texans without health insurance, and lets not forget that thirteen states filed an amicus brief with the court supporting Medicaid expansion for their populations, i.e., those state governments do not require "coercion" to take care of their uninsured. Would that my native state of Texas were one of these!