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Another Health Care Victory: Unsustainable CLASS Program Is Deep-Sixed | GovWatch | Advocacy | NAIFA
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NAIFA GovWatch

Another Health Care Victory: Unsustainable CLASS Program Is Deep-Sixed

Date: October 17, 2011

Issue: Health Care Reform

Action Taken: On Friday afternoon, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the CLASS program is being suspended because after 19 months of study, the Department cannot identify a way to make the program work.

The CLASS Act was to be a government-run long-term care insurance program. It was enacted as part of the health care reform law in March 2010. CLASS was scored as “paying for” $86 billion over the ten year budget window because the program would have collected premiums for five years before ever beginning to pay out claims. From the beginning there were bipartisan concerns that this was an accounting gimmick and the design of the program was financially unsustainable.

NAIFA President Robert Miller issued the following statement in response to Friday’s announcement:

“NAIFA applauds the Obama administration’s decision to abandon the unsustainable long-term care insurance program called the CLASS Act. NAIFA supports the goal of achieving financial security to cover long-term care services. However, we believe there are better ways to help people plan for their long-term care needs including the offer of quality insurance products at their place of employment.”

Next Steps: This announcement marks NAIFA’s third big win in 2011 towards undoing problematic pieces of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Looking back at the targeted revisions we identified, we are making steady progress, and will continue to push forward to achieve the rest.

Accomplished:

Still Working Hard:

NAIFA Staff Contact: Lillian Vogl, Esq., Director—Federal Government Relations, at lvogl@naifa.org or Diane Boyle, Vice President—Federal Government Relations, at dboyle@naifa.org

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