AUSTIN As Gov. Rick Perry stood defiantly against expanding Medicaid in Texas under the federal health care reform law Monday, he and other officials said they'd work for alternative solutions in a state where a quarter of the people are uninsured.

It's unclear what those solutions would look like, although Perry has long called for the federal government to give money to Texas in block grants without as many restrictions on how it's spent.

Some suggested expanding federal subsidies for private insurance to allow more low-income people to buy insurance on the private market with government assistance.

The feds have basically said this is the amount of money we are going to spend. So if you are going to spend it, why don't you let us spend it in a way that we think is better for Texas, as opposed to loading up our Medicaid program? said state Rep. John Zerwas, R-Richmond.

If Perry's decision holds, Texas will forgo billions of federal dollars to help cover about 1.5 million low-income Texas adults through Medicaid.

The federal government would pay the full cost of the Medicaid expansion for the first three years; after that, Texas would pay a share that would gradually increase but be capped at 10 percent.

The Health and Human Services Commission projects the expansion would cost $27 billion in state general revenue and bring in $164 billion in federal money over 10 years.

Perry also said Monday that Texas has no intention of setting up its own insurance exchange to allow people buying their own plans to compare coverage, another provision of the health care law.

If Texas doesn't set up an exchange, the federal government will do so. But the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states have a choice about expanding the Medicaid program.

Perry said in a letter to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that he opposes both programs because both represent brazen intrusions into the sovereignty of our state.

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Perry opposes Medicaid expansion