House repeals long-term care program Obama viewed as too costly

The U.S. House repealed a long-term care insurance program created by the 2010 health-care law that the Obama administration decided was too costly to put in place. The 267-159 vote sends the bill to the Senate, where Democrats don't plan to bring it up. The program, known as the Class Act, was proposed by the late Senator Edward Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat who died in August 2009 before passage of the law. "While the goals of the program are worthy, good intentions don't make up for fundamentally flawed, actuarially unsound policies designed to show the illusion of savings," Pennsylvania Republican Joe Pitts, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, said during yesterday's floor debate.