Obama admin: "CLASS dismissed!" Kennedy-Backed Long-Term Care Program Scrapped by Sebelius

[Poll_Blind]

From http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-14/kennedy-backed-long-term-care-program-scrapped-by-sebelius.html">Bloomberg Businesseeek:

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- A long-term disability care program shepherded into the U.S. health overhaul by Senator Edward Kennedy before his death was canceled as financially unsustainable by health secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Republicans opposed the so-called Class Act that created the program. It will be indefinitely suspended, Sebelius said today in a statement, because the program isn’t likely to generate enough revenue to pay for its benefits.

Democrats led by Kennedy created the plan to help people disabled by illness or accident. By paying premiums while employed, beneficiaries would be eligible after five years for at least $50 a day toward health and support services provided at home. The program was billed as paying for itself. “I do not see a viable path forward for Class implementation at this time,” Sebelius said in a letter to congressional leaders.

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Republicans celebrated the program’s demise, calling it misguided policy used as a financial gimmick to reduce cost estimates of the health law. At the time, the Congressional Budget Office subtracted $70 billion from the cost of the law thanks to Class -- which stands for Community Living Assistance Services and Supports -- contributing to $143 billion in total savings, because the program’s premiums would exceed benefits over its first decade.

The program “was destined to fail in the real world,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the senior Republican in the chamber, in a statement.

PB

[begin_within]

1. Well at least McConnell admits that Congress has nothing to do with the real world.

[Blaze Diem]

2. The torch was passed but guess someone exstinguished the flame & shoved it in the back of a

file cabinet in D.C. along with the US Constitution
They can't figure out what OWS wants. They don't want to know and they don't care.
Any political donation I would have given in the next year will be diverted to OWS.
Enough said.

[ProSense]

3. More information

Think Progress: Why The CLASS Demise Is Not A Sign Of Health Reform’s Failure