In trying to duck their Medicaid responsibilities, Republican governors could be rushing into disaster.

Republican governors came to Washington recently with a pretty clear message on Medicaid: Cut the program or, better still, let us cut it on our own.

At first glance, their arguments seem compelling. Medicaid, the joint federal-state program that provides health insurance for low-income and disabled Americans, costs states a lot of money. The poor economy creates new demands on Medicaid at the precise moment that states face the weakest revenues to support such programs. And, while the economy will eventually improve, the Affordable Care Act requires states, as of 2014, to provide coverage to even more people. (The federal government will pay virtually the entire cost of those made newly-eligible, but policies such as the individual mandate will bring many others onto the Medicaid rolls.)

Suppose the federal government responded to these challenges by saying “OK.” Suppose states were granted much greater latitude in running Medicaid, and (implicitly or explicitly) to cut the program. Would these Republican governors—and, more important, their constituents—really benefit? I don’t believe that they would.

Consider what would happen if Texas governor Rick Perry, who has mused about dropping Medicaid entirely, could do what he wanted. Talking about dropping Medicaid might attract attention for Perry’s new book. Actually doing so would be ludicrous, both as policy and politics. Most Texas Medicaid dollars go to the elderly and the disabled. Millions of middle-class Americans—in Texas and everyplace else—rely on Medicaid to protect them if they or a loved one requires costly medical services or long-term care. Few politicians would risk damaging services to these groups.

Medicaid’s rules and procedures are also encoded in the DNA of every state’s medical and social service systems. Withdrawing from the program would be an administrative nightmare that would likely deeply anger patients, not to mention the well-organized network of providers who provide Medicaid-funded services.