Dems on Gov’t Healthcare Takeover: If It’s Broke, Keep It

February 2, 2012

House Democrats Rally Around Broken CLASS Program Created Under Government Healthcare Takeover that Even Obama Administration Called “Too Flawed to Salvage”

House Republicans voted yesterday to repeal one of the government takeover of healthcare’s failed programs, but not without the opposition of House Democrats.
The vote was just the latest telling indicator of how far House Democrats are willing to go to defend their government takeover of healthcare. Even the Obama administration has quit defending the CLASS program created under their healthcare law, calling the program “too flawed to salvage” and “a recipe for disaster.”
Meanwhile, more and more other programs continue to turn up as failures under the law. Yet Democrats want to keep their healthcare law in its totality, even in the face of fiscal problems and challenges to its constitutionality.

House Republicans voted yesterday to repeal one of the government takeover of healthcare law’s failed programs, but not without the opposition of House Democrats:

83% OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTE AGAINST REPEALING FLAWED CLASS PROGRAM FROM HEALTHCARE LAW: (Roll Call 18, Clerk of the U.S. House, 2/1/2012)

The vote was just the latest telling indicator of how far House Democrats are willing to go to defend their government takeover of healthcare. Even the Obama administration has quit defending the CLASS program created under their healthcare law, calling the program “too flawed to salvage” and “a recipe for disaster:

POLITICO: CLASS “ABANDONED YET DEFENDED”: “The Obama administration has abandoned health reform’s long-term care insurance program, saying it can’t figure out how to make the program solvent and isn’t going to try.

“And yet, it says it’s not interested in repealing the program for good. So when the House votes on Wednesday to wipe the CLASS Act off the books, the White House — and most Democrats — will be against it.” (Brett Norman and Jennifer Haberkorn, “CLASS ACT: Abandoned Yet Defended,” Politico, 1/31/2012)

HHS OFFICIALS ABANDONED CLASS AFTER DETERMINING IT WAS “TOO FLAWED TO SALVAGE”:“CLASS is by far the biggest piece of healthcare reform to meet its end, and also the first to collapse entirely on its own. Republicans successfully repealed one much smaller provision, and the individual mandate could be struck down by the Supreme Court. But HHS officials acknowledged that CLASS fell apart simply because it was too flawed to salvage.” (Sam Baker, “Obama’s HHS Ends Controversial Program in Health Care Law,” The Hill, 10/14/2011)

BUT DEMOCRATS WERE WARNED REPEATEDLY THAT THE PROGRAM LOOKED “LIKE A RECIPE FOR DISASTER”: “A Health and Human Services deputy secretary repeatedly warned his superiors and Democratic staff on the Hill that the Class program ‘seems like a recipe for disaster to me.’ Later, he even suggested that Democrats include a ‘failsafe’ for public support.” (Joseph Rago, “GOP Vets an ObamaCare Program,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2011)

MEDICARE SCOREKEEPER RICK FOSTER PREDICTED THE “PROGRAM WOULD COLLAPSE IN SHORT ORDER AND REQUIRE SIGNIFICANT FEDERAL SUBSIDIES TO CONTINUE“: (Joseph Rago, “GOP Vets an ObamaCare Program,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2011)

BUT DEMOCRATS “WENT AHEAD ANYWAY”: (Joseph Rago, “GOP Vets an ObamaCare Program,” The Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2011)

FLASHBACK: 98% OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST REPEALING GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER LAST YEAR: (Roll Call 14, Clerk of the U.S. House, 1/19/2011)

Meanwhile, more and more other programs continue to turn up as failures under the law. Yet Democrats want to keep their healthcare law in its totality, even in the face of fiscal problems and challenges to its constitutionality:

“CBO REPORT: MEDICARE PILOT PROGRAMS DON’T CONTROL HEALTHCARE COSTS”: (Megan McArdle, “CBO Report: Medicare Pilot Programs Don’t Control Healthcare Costs,” The Atlantic, 1/18/2012)

ANOTHER OBAMACARE BUST: “SPENDING WAS EITHER INCREASED OR UNCHANGED RELATIVE TO THE SPENDING THAT WOULD HAVE OCCURRED IN THE ABSENCE OF THE PROGRAM”:(“Lessons from Medicare’s Demonstration Projects on Disease Management, Care Coordination and Value-Based Payment,” Congressional Budget Office, January 2012)

KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION: 54% SAY SUPREME COURT SHOULD REJECT INSURANCE MANDATE, ONLY 17% WANT TO KEEP IT IN PLACE: (Louise Radonofsky, “Poll: Most Say High Court Should Reject Insurance Mandate,” The Wall Street Journal, 1/27/2012)

BUT OBAMA HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS SAYS WHITE HOUSE WILL “KEEP GOING” IF SUPREME COURT DEEMS MANDATE UNCONSTITUTIONAL: “Sebelius said she’s confident the Supreme Court will uphold the mandate, but that there are alternatives if it doesn’t. ‘I think we keep going,’ she said.” (Sam Baker, “Sebelius: ‘We Keep Going’ if Court Strikes Down Mandate to Have Insurance,”The Hill, 1/24/2012)