Do You Approve Of Removing The Long Term Care Provision From The Health Care Reform Act

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Poll question: Do You Approve Of Removing The Long Term Care Provision From The Health Care Reform Act

[woo me with science]

1. They just now discover that it's financially unsustainable, huh.

Interesting. I guess the options here are sheer incompetence or a bait and switch.

[slipslidingaway]

8. CLASS Act alarms ignored

http://www.benefitspro.com/2011/09/14/class-act-alarms-ignored

"...The emails show that the first warning about CLASS came in May 2009, from Richard Foster, head of long range economic forecasts for Medicare. "At first glance this proposal doesn't look workable," Foster wrote in an email to other HHS officials, some of whom were working with Congress to get CLASS into the health care law.

Foster said a rough outline of the program would have to enroll more than 230 million people — more than the U.S. workforce — to be financially feasible.

...In July, Foster tried again. After reviewing the latest information from Kennedy's office, he wrote HHS officials: "Thirty-six years of (professional) experience lead me to believe that this program would collapse in short order and require significant federal subsidies to continue."

By that time, Marton, the HHS aging policy official, was also raising questions internally. Emails he sent other administration officials relayed studies that raised concerns about such issues as premiums and the role of employers, while also recommending fixes..."


CMS Actuary: CLASS Act Would Not Work
http://www.lifehealthpro.com/2009/11/17/cms-actuary-class-act-would-not-work

"The chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says a long term care provision in H.R. 3962, the House health bill, would not be financially viable..."

[supernova]

2. The need for LTC is

what makes people fear getting sick the most. You aren't dying, but you need professional care to get through your day. It is the thing that eats up people's resources before or just after they must enter the dreaded nursing home.

[Arctic Dave]

3. Well they caved on this one. The poll should be about what he will cave on next.

Anything to support the bloated MIC.

[COLGATE4]

4. I'll take "Everything" for $500, Alex

[lynne]

5. Not sure that "approve" is the right word as I really don't think they -

- had a choice in the matter. The LTC provision was an impossibility from the start. As it was designed for individuals that were known to be at risk, there was never any way that the product could sustain itself financially. Insurance is based on the Laws of Large Numbers and those numbers just won't work for a product designed in this manner.

I have to wonder if anyone with insurance industry experience was even consulted when this product was conceived. At best, it was poorly designed. At worst, it was Bait and Switch.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Their Families Will End Up Taking Care Of Them

At great physical, monetary, and emotional cost. I say this from from first hand experience. I also read where family caregivers give $50 billion of "free" care to their elderly parents who need assistance.

[lynne]

7. That's exactly what will occur as we've experienced this -

- in our family, too. IMO, too much focus is being placed on the insurance aspect of the medical industry and not enough focus has been on how to actually reduce medical costs itself. When the cost of medical care goes down, not only will it be easier for individuals without insurance to pay for medical services, insurance premiums should go down, too. Theoretically. I've rarely seen premiums reduced but it does sometimes occur when the expenses that insurance pays for are reduced for an extended period of time.

The cost of insurance is merely a symptom of what the true problem is. And the true problem is the cost of medical and related services.

[PoliticAverse]

12. If you read post #8 in this thread you'll see they did consult with experts who were ignored...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=797584&mesg_id=798178

[krawhitham]

9. How do the remove provisions without a vote in congress?

[Mimosa]

10. Remember 'wait and see'?

Remember 'we'll find out what's in it after it's enacted'? I must have read that 50 times here on DU. NOW we are finding out.

[PoliticAverse]

11. The law required that the secretary of health and human services had to certify...

that the final CLASS Act plan would be solvent for the next 75 years or the plan wouldn't be implemented. They couldn't come up
with a plan that met the requirements (primarily due to the voluntary participation nature of the law).