Texas Gov. Rick Perry believes President Barack Obama's signature health-care law will undergo substantial changes as individual states develop better alternatives, the former Republican presidential candidate told CNBC on Wednesday.
"So the idea that this Affordable Care Act—Obamacare, whatever you want to call it—is going to stick around is just not reality," Perry told CNBC during an interview on "Squawk on the Street." "The reality is that the states will be where the ideas bubble up from."
Perry's comments come as the governor traveled to Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum, an elite gathering of world business and political leaders at a Swiss resort. Perry told CNBC that he planned to speak during a panel on legalizing recreational drugs, where he may be the only dissenting voice.
"I may be one of the only people on that panel who does not think that's a good idea," Perry said.
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Discussing issues ranging from a potential presidential campaign in 2016—which the governor deflected to instead pitch job growth in Texas—to independence from foreign oil, Perry said energy production remains the best way to produce jobs and stimulate economic growth.
(Read more: Obamacare Rx: Navigating the health insurance maze)
Perry said even Saudi Arabia plans to look at hydraulic fracturing techniques, the controversial shale gas extraction method revolutionizing energy production in the United States.
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"For the world to continue to grow, for job creation, for inequality in wages to close, for all the ships in the harbor to be raised, if you will, you're going to see energy will be a very important part of that," Perry said.
—By CNBC's Jeff Morganteen. Follow him on Twitter at @jmorganteen and get the latest stories from "Squawk on the Street."
