Officials were unable to find a way to make a long-term care insurance program financially self-sustaining
The Obama administration says it is unable to go forward with a major new program in the president's signature health care overhaul law. Officials said Friday a new long-term care insurance program has critical design flaws that could not be fixed to make it financially self-sustaining.
View full sizeHealth and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius gets a flu shot in Chicago on Oct. 5. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a letter to Congress she does not see a viable path forward at this time.
The CLASS program was supposed to be a voluntary insurance plan for working adults regardless of age or health. Workers would pay an affordable monthly premium during their careers, and could collect a modest daily cash benefit if they became disabled later in life.
The problem all along has been how to get enough healthy people to sign up.
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of The Associated Press wrote this report.