Free Republic

It says something about the brazen attitude of American politicians that Congress enacted a measure to create a program that was impossible to implement -- and named it the CLASS Act. CLASS stands for Community Living Assistance Services and Support, a program that was supposed to offer voluntary long-term care insurance to workers who are 18 or older; its initials are about the only classy angle to the scheme. Last February, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told the Senate that the CLASS Act, as written, was "totally unsustainable." In October, Sebelius announced that she could not implement the...

The Republican-led House on Wednesday voted to repeal a financially troubled part of the 2010 health care law that was designed to provide affordable long-term care insurance. The House vote comes months after the Obama administration suspended the Community Living Assistance Services and Support program, known as the CLASS Act. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in October said she was unable to find a way to make the program financially solvent. Still, the White House has said it does not support repealing the program, under which workers would pay a monthly premium during their careers and collect a...

It's becoming clear: Obama thinks American voters are stupid.  Anyone believing Obama's current campaign promises is either gullible or amnesia-prone.   Increasingly, his campaign speeches indicate a rather pitiful and cynical hope that Americans will not remember his earlier promises nor will they recall past decisions by the Obama Administration that have failed so spectacularly.  Obama’s reelection strategy seems dependent upon an ability to fool most of the people one more time.  Obama’s most cynical campaign effort is the oft repeated mantra that some Americans are not “paying their fair share" of taxes. For example, in September 2011, Obama said he...

President Obama is against repealing the health law's long-term care CLASS Act and might veto Republican efforts to do so, an administration official tells The Hill, despite the government's announcement Friday that the program was dead in the water. "We do not support repeal," the official said Monday. "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." Over the weekend, The Hill has learned, an administration official called CLASS Act advocates to reassure them that Obama is still committed to making the...

Nearly half of the deficit reduction that Democrats claimed when President Obama signed the national health care law would be wiped away by the administration's recomendation against implementing a doomed long-term care program. As Obamacare's critics noted at the time, Democrats' deficit reduction claims were based on a series of accounting gimmicks. One of the most obvious was the inclusion of the Community Living Assistance and Support Services Act, a program that was slated to collect five years of premiums before paying out any benefits. Though it was unsustainable over time, on paper it produced surpluses during the Congressional Budget...

The President’s Health-Care Law’s House of Cards Begins to Crumble WASHINGTON – Today, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin issued the following statement regarding the Obama Administration’s decision to discontinue a key component of its health-care law: “To hide the true cost of their health-care overhaul, the leaders of the Democratic party loaded it with gimmicks and double-counting. One of the most egregious of these gimmicks involved the CLASS Act, a new long-term care program that was scored as an offset against the ten-year, trillion-dollar cost of the Democrats new law. Independent health care experts warned that the...

The Obama administration will not implement a controversial piece of the healthcare reform law, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Friday. Sebelius said the department will not continue trying to implement the CLASS program, which was intended to provide insurance for long-term care. Republicans charged that the program’s financial structure was unsustainable, and Sebelius conceded as much Friday. “We have not identified a way to make CLASS work at this time,” she wrote on the Huffington Post's website. Sebelius said HHS will “suspend” implementation of the program. The department recently reassigned the people it had placed in the...

Does the American public have the bandwidth to follow two Solyndra-style White House scandals at once?  As maddening as the Solyndra row has been -- and we'll have an update on that story later this morning -- this revelation is probably worse.  I reach that conclusion based on the relative scale and consequences of the dueling disgraces' politically-motivated dishonesty.  First, a little bit of background to prime the pump:  When Democrats entered their full-court press for Obamacare last winter, they made it clear that nothing would stand in their way.  Not hostile public opinion, not sound policy interests, not even...

When Congress was debating the Obamacare law last year, I raised many concerns about the size and scope of the law and the outrageous amount of new federal taxes and spending it created. Like many people, I also have grown concerned about the law’s impact on Americans’ personal freedoms. My concern stems not only from its controversial mandate that every American buy health insurance, but also from other federal mandates that could follow. In challenging Obamacare’s individual mandate, the law’s critics have pointed out that if Congress can force Americans to buy health insurance, federal power would be nearly unlimited....

In the coming months, the Department of Health and Human Services will be ironing out the details of the CLASS Act and submitting information to employers in preparation for enrolling their employees into the voluntary program in 2012. It will probably catch most businesses off guard, for it’s a provision of ObamaCare unknown to most Americans — sadly including the Congressmen who voted for the gargantuan bill. When that happens, you know something is set for failure from the start. CLASS (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports) is the government’s first foray into supplemental care for the aged. It’s similar...

The Republican candidate for 99th District Michigan House has condemned an independent robocall attacking his Democratic opponent for the fact that she's gay. "A phone call funded by the American Family Association went too far, in condemning the personal life of my opponent," said GOP candidate Kevin Cotter. "This type of behavior disgusts me, and I cannot denounce it strongly enough." A recorded telephone call from a man identifying himself as Gary Glenn, who is the president of the Midland-based American Family Association of Michigan and the chairman of the Campaign for Michigan Families political action committee, was made to...

Hidden in ObamaCare, Section 8002, is a new payroll tax that will hit paychecks of American employees beginning 01/01/2011. It was placed in ObamaCare to make the legislation appear to cost almost $100 billion less than the true cost. That’s according to Ron Greiner of StopObamaCare101.com,a national medical insurance expert. The program is called the Community Living Assistance Services and Support Program (ironically dubbed: “CLASS Act”). Even the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee (Senator Kent Conrad D-ND) called it, “A Ponzi Scheme of the first order, the kind of thing that Bernie Madoff would have been proud of.” (Charles...

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, the conservative Orange County Republican who began running for US Senate in November 2008, just conceded the race. Here's the prepared text of the concession speech of the man we liked to call Chuck D from the OC: My friends, I just completed my telephone call to Carly Fiorina, to congratulate her on her victory this evening. She is our party's nominee. I endorse her. I will support her. I will vote for her. And I call upon all of you to do the same in November. We traveled a long road to get here. When I...

LOS ANGELES -- "Designing Women" actress Dixie Carter, who used her charm and stately beauty in a host of roles on Broadway and television, has died. She was 70. Publicist Steve Rohr, who represents Carter and her husband, actor Hal Holbrook, said Carter died Saturday morning. He would not disclose where she died or the cause of death. Carter and Holbrook lived in the Los Angeles area. "This has been a terrible blow to our family," Holbrook told Entertainment Tonight. Carter was born in McLemoresville, Tenn., north of Jackson, and spent many of her early years in Memphis. In 1960,...

The health legislation signed into law last week by President Obama includes a provision called the CLASS Act, which provides long-term care at home. It wasn't part of the debate, and few people know about it today but experts agree that it could well explode the federal budget deficit down the road and your personal budget before that. The Community Living Services and Support (CLASS) Act was designed to assist people who need in-home assistance with basic daily tasks There are a few problems with the plan. First of all the Congress has written the legislation so you are automatically...

Health reform is many things, but not a class act. The reason: the CLASS Act. The legislation signed into law last week includes a provision called the CLASS Act, which provides long-term care at home. Few know about it, but experts agree it could well explode the federal budget deficit down the road. The Act was designed to assist people who need help with daily tasks and are willing to pay for in-home assistance. ... The problem: The plan, as currently constructed, can't possibly pay for itself over the long run and will blow a hole in the federal budget...

University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow didn't take home an award from the The Home Depot ESPNU College Football Awards Thursday night, but he made national news from the red carpet with his date, the young woman he brought on his arm.She was Kelly Faughnan, 20, whom he met the day before. Faughnan had been diagnosed with a brain tumor just before Thanksgiving last year. Before surgery last year, her wish was to go to Disney World during the awards show to get a glimpse of Tebow. Faughnan is from Clifton, Va., according to several news reports.Fox News reported that...

Apparently, President Barack Obama thought that Jessica Simpson's weight was something he needed to make fun of during his pre-Super Bowl interview with Matt Lauer on NBC Sunday. Seriously. Obama called Jessica Simpson a fatty on national TV. Lauer displayed for the audience the cover of a recent issue of the tabloid entertainment magazine US Weekly that featured the President's wife and daughters and also had an insert photo pushing a story about singer Simpson. As he viewed the cover, Obama decided to smack the singer down for "losing a weight battle."

Smyrna’s Maryline Blackburn won the 1984 Miss Alaska beauty pageant. The second runner-up? Sarah Palin, nee Heath – the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee. “My first impression was, ‘Oh my god, she’s gorgeous, she’ll probably be the one who wins,” Blackburn, a recording artist, recalled Monday afternoon. Second impression?“She had this look about her, this look in her eyes that tells you she’s calculating, figuring out ‘How am I going to win this competition,’ ” Blackburn said. “There was a determination there.” And that became evident when she tripped you during the evening gown competition?“No,” Blackburn laughed. “Sarah would never do anything...

What kind of impact has the Palin pick had on MSM coverage? We've gone from wall-to-wall adoration of last night's speech, to—literally within hours—Andrea Mitchell having to remind viewers of some guy named Barack Obama. Mitchell was kibitzing the choice of Palin with Bloomberg's Margaret Carlson and Time editor Rick Stengel. Not merely did the liberal [see here and here] Stengel praise Palin, he even compared her favorably with . . . Hillary Clinton. And Mitchell closed the segment by acknowledging that Obama had been "overshadowed." RICK STENGEL: She has a very, very appealing story, and one of the things...