Perry pressured by Texas businesses over Medicaid refusal

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is facing intensifying pressure from numerous chambers of commerce representing companies such as Exxon Mobil and Kimberly-Clark to accept the $100 billion currently being offered by the federal government to expand state health care for the poor. The free Medicaid funding would continue to 2016, and then the state would gradually have to pay up to a share of 10 percent by 2020. Perry says that is too much, and continues to refuse to accept the federal money. But for businesses facing an extra $1,800 a year in employer-offered insurance costs to cover uncompensated hospital visits, enough is enough. Take the federal money, they say. Please.