Governor Carcieri was a key player in dueling conference calls with national media outlets Thursday, serving as the Republican National Committee's latest voice in its fight against Congressional Democrats' push to overhaul the nation's health-care system.

The Rhode Island governor spoke for just under 20 minutes, warning reporters from across the country that the Ocean State cannot afford federal legislation that would expand coverage for an estimated 50,000 low-income men and women through the Medicaid program.

"These would be huge burdens on us as a state," he said of the expansion and proposals that would block cuts for the existing 180,000 Rhode Islanders who receive health coverage from Medicaid. "We cannot take on any additional cost right now. We're having a devil of a time trying to manage our way through the costs we have right now."

When asked about a new study that predicts the number of Rhode Island's uninsured would climb by at least 10 percent over the next decade to 138,000, Carcieri largely attributed the high number to illegal immigrants.

"A large portion of the uninsured, it's true nationally, but probably even a greater proportion in our case, are illegal immigrants, they're immigrants, OK, many of whom are illegal," he said, noting that another major group is young adults who decide against coverage. "From an actuarial standpoint, that's not a high-risk group anyway."