AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ Attorney General Greg Abbott, who joined a court case challenging the new federal health care law, pushed for a health insurance plan in Texas for parents required to provide medical coverage for their kids.
That requirement covers youngsters in the state’s child support collection system who also receive government aid for the poor.
Abbott contends there’s no hypocrisy on his part because the child support insurance law and the new federal law signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday are quite different.
His spokesman says the state plan Abbott backed doesn’t impose a new mandate.
But Abbott’s election opponent, Barbara Ann Radnofsky, says Abbott has been accepting of requirements that some parents buy health coverage. She says he’s promoting broad health care mandates.