The House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health recommended by voice vote today to pass the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act of 2011, which would repeal the CLASS Act, the long-term care program created by PPACA. Democrats on the panel resisted, refusing to give up a part of the healthcare law that would open doors to further dissection.

Democrats had praised the CLASS Act because, in theory, it simultaneously solved the long-term care crisis and lowered the deficit. However, upon closer inspection, it accomplished neither of these. The CBO’s projections for the Act’s $81 billion in savings only accounted for the program’s first 10 years- after 2029 the Act would start adding to the deficit. Kathleen Sebelius, the Director of HHS admitted that there was no viable way to implement CLASS as is.

CLASS supporters caution that repealing the CLASS Act implies apathy for the millions of seniors without the means to pay for long-term care. In fact, the opposite is true. Had CLASS been enacted, it would have raised revenue in the short term, but in the long run it would have both increased the deficit and ultimately failed to deliver the care that enrollees had been paying years for. Sound reminiscent of another entitlement program?

While long-term care is badly in need of reform, it is a long-term problem, and short-run solutions like the CLASS Act only make matters worse. By continuing to defend a dead act, congressional Democrats lower the credibility of their ability to create sustainable and meaningful healthcare reform.

-Ryan Holland