Sep 27 2011
The Hill reports that backers of this long-term care program, including congressional Democrats, say the administration can continue working on its developments using money from the health law.
The Hill: Dem Lawmakers To Fight For CLASS Health Program's Survival
Congressional champions of the health law's controversial CLASS Act said they'll do all they can to keep it alive after reports Thursday that the Obama administration is putting the long-term care program on ice. The Department of Health and Human Services recently asked Senate appropriators to strike $120 million that had been planned next fiscal year to implement the benefit for disabled Americans. And this past week, the administration was left scrambling to reassure advocates after the program's departing actuary said the CLASS Act office was closing down. … Advocates say that even without the $120 million appropriation next year, the administration can continue working on the program by using money from the health reform law. They said they expect the administration to still follow the timeline outlined by HHS in its initial funding request for FY 2012 (Pecquet, 9/25).
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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