Despite Alleged White House
Objections, LTC Program Quashed
BY eLiZaBetH festa
Despite white house concerns, the obama administration is not mov- ing forward with efforts to imple-
ment the Class act, the long-term care
program the Department of health and
human services said last week will just
not work.
administration officials confirmed that
even though President obama does not
support repeal of the Class act, imple-
mentation of the program in its present
form will not continue.
at the same time, both administration
and long-term industry officials said efforts
must continue to address the long term
care needs of people in this country.
“we do not support repeal,” a white
house official said monday, according to
The Hill. “repealing the Class act isn’t
necessary or productive. what we should
be doing is working together to address
the long-term care challenges we face in
this country,” the white house official was
reported as saying.
But Jesse slome, executive director of
the american association for long-Term
Care insurance, interpreted the conflict
between the report issued friday by the
Department of health and human ser-
vices saying work on the
program will be stopped,
and the different message
put forth by white house
comments “as a combina-
tion of chaos and insanity,
said Jesse slome, of the
situation.”
“it is understandable
that the president doesn’t
want to abandon any part of health care re-
form,” slome said. “But i can’t understand
why the president and the Democrats are
throwing gasoline on the bonfire.”
Class is the Com-
munity living assis-
tance supports and
services (Class)
long-term care insur-
ance plan, a voluntary,
employment-based
program created as
part of the 2010 af-
fordable Care act.
Kathy greenlee,
administrator of the
Class program said
friday in a report to
hhs secretary (Kath-
leen) sebelius that she
does “not see a path
to move forward with
Class at this time.”
greenlee added
that, “i recommend
that we work together
with Congress and
stakeholders, includ-
ing consumers, insur-
ers and employers, to
continue exploring all
of the options to ad-
dress the critical long-term care needs of
americans.”
her report was for-
warded at that time to
Congress, as mandated
by the Patient Protection
and affordable Care act,
of which the Class act
was a part.
“At the same time,
both administration
and long-term
industry officials said
efforts must continue
to address the long
term care needs
of people in this
country.”
and benefit structure.”
“Class was overly ambitious espe-
cially considering the current economic
climate. But ignoring the problem will not
make it disappear and we look forward to
more realistic approaches that can help
americans face and address this issue,”
slome of the aalTCi stated last week,
after hhs delivered its conclusions. NU
