Gang of Six drop longterm care plan (CLASS Act)

[chill_wind]

Gang of Six drop longterm care plan
July 20, 2011 6:09 PM

By Shira Schoenberg, Globe Correspondent

A new insurance program for long-term care may fall casualty to the so-called “Gang of Six” plan to address the federal deficit.

A little-noticed provision of President Obama’s health care reform established a voluntary insurance program for in-home care, where individuals would pay premiums, then receive cash benefits should they become disabled and unable to perform basic functions like eating or dressing themselves. The bipartisan group of senators trying to develop a compromise to allow the president and Congress to raise the debt ceiling would repeal the program.

The details of the insurance plan are not yet known, since the secretary of Health and Human Services has until Oct. 1, 2012 to design it. According to a June 2010 report by the Congressional Research Service, premiums would likely start at between $123 and $240 a month for average benefits of $50 to $75 a day once a recipient becomes disabled. (Students and those below the poverty level would pay just $5 a month.)

The late Massachusetts Senator Edward Kennedy championed the idea of a government-run long-term care insurance program for years, and before his death was instrumental in getting it included in Obama’s reforms. The plan is known as the CLASS Act, for Community Living Assistance Services and Supports.

http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2011/07/gang-six-drop-longterm-care-plan/EnZXJxb2sXi5XZfdwlvERN/index.html

Some background (2009):

Should Long-Term-Care Insurance Be Part of Health Reform?

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1946431,00.html#ixzz1ShPy0zlo

[no_hypocrisy]

1. What's holding back the Gang of Six from repealing HCR?

They've just about done everything else to destroy this country.

[Davis_X_Machina]

2. I thought...

...we agreed it was a terrible bill, a give-away to the insurance companies, and deserved to be killed?

[canoeist52]

4. They like the mandates - guaranteed income for insurance co.'s.

[iamjoy]

3. What A Shame

Moral considerations aside, a good long term care program that support home health care for disabled people can actually save money. Without that, people who are unable to care for themselves and don't have a family member to do it will divest of any assets they have, go on Medicaid and go into a nursing home. That's more expensive, and wasted if the patient only needs minor assistance rather than round the clock skilled care.

[slipslidingaway]

5. HC Reform bill and Class Act - when scored by the CBO, the Class Act was the largest...

reason for the HC bill reducing the deficit.

Links are here ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1523102&mesg_id=1524275

The Class Act could not be removed, it is a major component of saving...
the government 132 billion over 10 years.

Collect revenues now for a program that people will not need until some future date.

Both bills reduce the deficit because they collect money for a new long term care....
Posted by slipslidingaway in General Discussion: Presidency
Fri Nov 20th 2009, 12:24 AM
plan that will not have any cash outlays in the beginning years.


"CBO’s corrected estimates
are that the monthly premium for the CLASS program as it is specified in H.R. 3962
would average about $146 in 2011 (as compared with $123 in the original estimate) and ...

Honorable John D. Dingell
Page 2

that the program would reduce deficits by about $102 billion over the 2010-2019 period,
rather than the original estimate of a reduction of about $72 billion over 10 years. (The
bill would require premiums to be set so as to cover the full cost of the program as
measured on an actuarial basis; the program’s cash flows would show net receipts for a
number of years, followed by net outlays in subsequent decades.) Estimates of the
CLASS provision for each year between 2010 and 2019 can be found on page 11 of
Table 4."


Generating revenue to cover the plan's cost over the 10 year period...bottom of page 7 in the CBO report. While the program itself sounds good, notice how this new piece reduces the deficit by 72 billion in the 10 year window.

Nice way to reduce the cost for Now.

The headline news was that this bill would reduce the deficit by 104 billion...

BREAKING: CBO Releases Numbers On House Health Care Bill : Reduce Deficit by $104 Billion

...so where did that reduction come from, it appears a large portion (72 billion) is due to this new long term care insurance, aka CLASS.

While that is something to celebrate, the plan would have people paying in over the 10 year budget window for something they will need in the future, naturally this will be all gains until people start drawing from the fund. For reference this is shown on page 26, Table 3 of the CBO report.

It reminded me of the SS Trust Fund that was pre-financed and helped to reduce the deficits, especially during the Clinton and Bush years...

[chill_wind]

6. Thank you for expanding the information, SSA.

:thumbsup:

[slipslidingaway]

7. You're welcome chill wind, while I think the idea is good, I'm afraid ....

that pile of money would be used to fund other activities.