Now that HHS Secretary Shecantbeserious has subjected the CLASS Act to a very real Death Panel, a postmortem is appropriate.
Let's note first that we called this some time ago (not that this was any great feat of prognostication). The fact is, this program was never fiscally sound or sustainable in the first place. Then, too, Long Term Care insurance is one of the two most complicated products in the life/health marketplace, which made it a less-than-ideal candidate for any type of government-run plan.
There's a larger, more immediate issue, though: the "savings" anticipated by the CLASS program were among those counted on to help fund the rest of ObamneyCare©, and those (alleged) savings are now gone in a puff of smoke. This leaves the rest of the initiative struggling even harder with regard to funding, even as we begin the last laps towards full implementation.
Finally, it's fascinating to me that a cornerstone of the President's signature legislation has just been deleted by fiat, courtesy of his own agency. No vote, no public discussion or disclosure, just...gone.
How's that for transparency?
Let's note first that we called this some time ago (not that this was any great feat of prognostication). The fact is, this program was never fiscally sound or sustainable in the first place. Then, too, Long Term Care insurance is one of the two most complicated products in the life/health marketplace, which made it a less-than-ideal candidate for any type of government-run plan.
There's a larger, more immediate issue, though: the "savings" anticipated by the CLASS program were among those counted on to help fund the rest of ObamneyCare©, and those (alleged) savings are now gone in a puff of smoke. This leaves the rest of the initiative struggling even harder with regard to funding, even as we begin the last laps towards full implementation.
Finally, it's fascinating to me that a cornerstone of the President's signature legislation has just been deleted by fiat, courtesy of his own agency. No vote, no public discussion or disclosure, just...gone.
How's that for transparency?
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