The Community Living Assistance Services and Support (aka C.L.A.S.S.) is a lesser discussed but important feature of Obamacare (PPACA).
The Act requires the feds to set up a quasi-insurance self-funding mechanism for long-term care services (for more details see my write up at http://www.issuu.com/
During testimony in February before the Senate Finance Committee DHHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius admitted that as designed by Congress C.L.A.S.S. is not financially sustainable.
The battle now is whether or not Sebelius can 1) fix the Act via regulatory changes or 2) Congress must redesign the Act.
In the latest volley the Congressional Research Services says the regulatory powers are NOT broad enough for Sebelius to effectively rewrite the statute via regulation.
A bigger question remains for many of us, “can this program ever be financially sustainable?”
As predicted, with Obamacare the devil will be in the regulatory details.
