Huffington Magazine Issue 34 | Page 66

COURTESY OF DIANNE LAIRD LEFT OUT Secretary Kathleen Sebelius earlier this year. The health care law’s “unsound encroachments will find no foothold here,” he declared. Perry has also described the Medicaid expansion as a fiscal threat, questioning whether Washington can be relied upon to deliver HUFFINGTON 02.03.13 its promised funding going forward. Experts say such opposition masks the real cause of concern in states such as Texas and Louisiana: They fear what has become known as “the woodwork effect,” with the Medicaid expansion serving to publicize the existence of the program, prompting a surge of people to enroll. That surge would include not Dianne Laird, a 57-yearold Texas resident who lacks health insurance.