Obama visits Dallas to make case for Obamacare

Houston – US President Barack Obama arrived in Dallas late Wednesday to urge Republican-led Texas, which has the highest rate of uninsured Americans in the nation, to join his signature health care law.

Speaking at a synagogue in Dallas, Obama used the occasion to ramp up pressure on Rick Perry, governor of the Lone Star state, who has refused to take advantage of a provision in the law to expand Medicaid to cover more of the working poor, Xinhua reported.

“There’s no state that actually needs this more than Texas,” Obama said. “Here in just the Dallas area, 133,000 people who don’t currently have health insurance would get immediate health insurance without even having to go through the website” if Texas would just expand Medicaid.

“Why wouldn’t the state of Texas want to do the same thing,” he asked later at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “Well, it’s because ideology has taken precedence over common sense and helping people.”

Perry accused the president of trying to “salvage his ill-conceived and unpopular programme from a Titanic fate”.

“Texans aren’t the reason Obamacare is crumbling,” Perry said. “Obamacare is the reason Obamacare is crumbling.”

The Democrats, most of whom face re-election next year, gave their input on existing challenges with implementation of the Affordable Care Act to the president, according to a White House statement.

High-profile failures of HealthCare.gov has put the Obama administration on the defensive in recent weeks.

Republicans and Democrats have deep disagreement on Obamacare that led to a 16-day partial shutdown of the US federal government last month.