Perry Proposed A Bi-National Health Insurance Plan With Mexico In 2001

[kpete]

Source: Think Progress

In 2001 at a border summit in south Texas, Perry spoke optimistically about the prospects for a “bi-national health insurance” program that would cover both U.S. and Mexican residents along the border. He also praised the Texas legislature’s bill to increase funding for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

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There are other challenges that require a unified approach, especially in the area of health care.<...> I urged legislators to pass a telemedicine pilot program that will enable, through technology, a sick border resident of limited financial means to receive care from a specialist hundreds of miles away.

But the effort to combat disease and illness requires greater cooperative efforts between our two nations. It is a simple truth that disease knows no boundaries.<...> We have much to gain if we work together to expand preventative care, and treat maladies unique to this region.

Legislation authored by border legislators Pat Haggerty and Eddie Lucio establishes an important study that will look at the feasibility of bi-national health insurance. This study recognizes that the Mexican and U.S. sides of the border compose one region, and we must address health care problems throughout that region. That’s why I am also excited that Texas Secretary of State Henry Cuellar is working on an initiative that could extend the benefits of telemedicine to individuals living on the Mexican side of the border.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/09/01/309632/flashback-perry-proposed-a-bi-national-health-insurance-plan-with-mexico-in-2001/

[liberal N proud]

1. That was before he needed to be against health care to win elections

[Betsy Ross]

2. Americans along the border have gone to Mexico

for cheaper medical care forever. This is just f'ing crazy anyway.

[Zambero]

3. Ping Pong Perry

This guy has been all over the political map and back. For those right-wing "purist" supporters of his that cannot stomach Romney's flip-flops, Perry's prior positions on a host of hot-button issues (health care, immigration, environment, to name but a few) could prove problematic once the word gets out.

[Historic NY]

4. "Perrycare"....sure has a ring to it.