The Obama Administration reported to Congress last week that after 19 months of work they could not find a way to implement Obamacare's Community Living Assistance Services & Supports (CLASS) program.This announcement strikes yet another blow to the Administration's healthcare takeover, as a major provision of the plan predictably collapses under the weight of its own actuarial unsoundness.
The Obamacare law requires CLASS, a new long-term disability insurance program, to be self-sustaining. The Obama administration has admitted for some time that CLASS was unsustainable, but they insisted, that they had the power to change it.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told Congressional leaders last week, "Despite our best analytical efforts, I do not see a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time."
Just two years ago, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) said the same when he called the program a "Ponzi Scheme of the first order"
According to an HHS report, CLASS would have to charge premiums of $3,000 per month in order to be self-sustaining. The report also admits that there are "strong arguments" that the Secretary of HHS does not have the legal authority to make necessary changes to the program.
And now two questions arise: 1) How much did the Obama Administration spend to try to make CLASS work?; 2) What provision of Obamacare will be the next to collapse of its own financial weight?