◼ We all know the fiscal cliff deal stunk. But amidst all the new debt and class warfare in the bill, perhaps not all was so bad: - The Right Scoop
◼ The Slow Dismantling of Obamacare - Amy Payne/Heritage Morning Bell
Things aren’t going so well for Obamacare.
Even Democrats in Congress aren’t huge fans any more. It seems after passing the law and finding out what’s in it, the allure has faded—so much so that Congress actually repealed part of Obamacare in the fiscal cliff deal last week.
That’s right—part of Obamacare has been completely undone. It was the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, essentially a new entitlement program for long-term care. But this new government program for people who end up needing assisted living or other long-term services was poorly designed and bound to fail, as Heritage’s Alyene Senger explains.
“CLASS was a bad deal for both taxpayers (who would likely have had to bail out the program) and beneficiaries (who would be better served by choosing among private options),” Senger wrote.
The program was so poorly designed that one of its own administrators warned Congress in 2011 that the program could collapse.
This is just one example of how poorly thought out Obamacare was—but this example so captured Congress’s attention that it spurred action. Another part of Obamacare that just took effect, the medical device tax, started making some Senators uneasy before it was scheduled to begin.
