House votes to repeal CLASS Act

The House of Representatives voted to repeal the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, a long-term-care insurance provision of the 2010 healthcare reform law.

In a 267-159 vote—including support from 28 Democrats—House members approved a bill that Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.), a physician, introduced a year ago. Called the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011, the bill overturns the CLASS Act, a voluntary, public-supported long-term-care insurance program. CLASS was the subject of much debate on Capitol Hill throughout 2011, and HHS suspended the program last fall. Boustany's bill serves the purpose of preventing the program from resurfacing.

“Nobody believed that it had any real merit when it was passed,” Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), a physician, said prior to the vote. “It was passed as a partial pay-for for the president's healthcare bill. So it's another portion of that bill that ought to come crashing down,” he said, adding that he finds it “peculiar” to hear those who support CLASS say that it doesn't work, but also say they want to keep it. “That's a disconnect.”

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