Rick Perry: 'Obamacare May Fail' Because Of State-Run Health Care Exchanges

Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) expressed doubts about President Barack Obama's health care reform, saying he thinks it "may fail" in an interview with Forbes.

"Well, I’m not sure Obamacare is going to be successful," Perry said, noting he thinks "the exchanges are not going to work" because states "don't know what the rules are."

Perry went on to predict "disaster" if governors agree to state-run health care exchanges:

So any governor who would sign on the dotted line to go into this exchange at this particular point in time, and they’re mandated by Washington. The rules are mandated. The idea that you’ve got a state instituted exchange, but it has to be federally approved. So the fact is the federal government’s going to have to run these. And they don’t have the expertise, nor do they have the money.

So on its face, Obamacare may fail because they don’t have the expertise nor the money. And they’re trying to push this off on the states. And I think wise governors and wise legislatures will say, “No, thank you.” Medicaid is a broken system. And the idea that we would expand and put more money and more people into a broken system is not unlike putting another 1,000 people on the Titanic. You know how this is going to turn out. And it’s going to be a disaster.

Perry said "I’m not holding my breath" that the government will block-grant money back to the states, which he sees as a solution. The former Republican presidential candidate has publicly refused to set up a state-run health care exchange, along with Ohio Governor John Kasich, Florida Governor Rick Scott and others.

Click here to read the entire Forbes interview with Perry.