CLASS Act Subject to Repeal This Week

Congress is scheduled to vote on the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act this week, which includes a repeal of the consumer-financed insurance plan for long-term services supports.   

Community Living and Services Supports and Support Act (CLASS) was a component of the Obama Administration's health care reform legislation. 

On Jan. 18, 2012, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means approved the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act (H.R. 1173), which would repeal the CLASS Act.  Although the repeal bill may pass in the House, it will face more challenges in the U.S. Senate, where many legislators are committed to the preserving the CLASS Act.

“The CLASS Act may not be perfect, but repealing this important long-term care law without a real alternative in place ignores the needs of millions of seniors, people with disabilities, and their caregivers, leaving them out in the cold,” Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said after the House Ways and Means Committee vote.

Interestingly, both supporters of the CLASS Act and supporters of repeal agreed that there needs to be a real discussion of how to finance long-term services and supports, but they differ on how to do so.

During the House Ways and Means Committee debate, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) asked his committee colleagues “to work together on a bipartisan solution” to the problem and to “replace not repeal.”