Raising the retirement age, "indexing" benefits, etc. are nothing more than cuts in benefits. Means testing would put the program into the welfare category rather than a shared insurance program making its elimination more acceptable to a large segment of the population.

Some Republican lawmakers -- still reveling in Tuesday's statewide election sweep -- are proposing an unprecedented solution to the state's estimated $25 billion budget shortfall: dropping out of the federal Medicaid program.

Not surprising is that they plan to blame the recent health insurance legislation for their action.

"With Obamacare mandates coming down, we have a situation where we cannot reduce benefits or change eligibility" to cut costs, said State Representative Warren Chisum, Republican of Pampa, the veteran conservative lawmaker who recently entered the race for speaker of the House. "This system is bankrupting our state," he said. "We need to get out of it. And with the budget shortfall we're anticipating, we may have to act this year."

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative research organization, estimates Texas could save $60 billion from 2013 to 2019 by opting out of Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, dropping coverage for acute care but continuing to finance long-term care services. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which has 3.6 million children, people with disabilities and impoverished Texans enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP, will release its own study on the effect of ending the state's participation in the federal match program at some point between now and January.