Kay Bailey Hutchison said this week that, if she becomes governor, she would probably have Texas not participate in a government-run insurance plan.

Congress is considering a proposal that would create such a program but give states the option not to participate.

"My inclination would certainly be to opt out, if the state taxpayers have to pay for the public option and then would not be eligible for it," Hutchison said Wednesday during a Dallas visit.

The Republican senator said it was too early to know for sure whether it would make sense for Texas to opt out of a government plan.

It wouldn't make sense, she said, for Texans to subsidize a plan with tax dollars but not enjoy the product.

"We don't know yet, because the bill has not been shown to us yet, whether an opt-out would also achieve cost savings to the state, so they would have to pay for something they were not getting," she said.

Hutchison's campaign has accused Gov. Rick Perry, her opponent for the Republican nomination in the March primary, of waffling on the issue because he said he wasn't sure whether the state should stay out of the so-called public option.

"The opt-out is nothing more than a bait and switch," said Perry spokesman Mark Miner.

"Even if we did opt out, Texas would have to continue to pay for the program in other states."

Miner said Hutchison's comments on health care were the true waffling.

"The governor has been consistent," he said.

"The senator has always had several different positions on all of her issues."