Revisions to the Class Act?

Excerpt from Ther New York Timesd: (click for entire article)

In The Times on Saturday, Your Money columnist Ron Lieber revisits the Class Act, the government insurance program for long-term care included in the landmark health care law passed last year. Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, is considering ways to make the program, which has not yet launched, both affordable and actuarially sound — no small task. Writes Mr. Lieber:

    She and her staff are making some changes, and the law gives them a certain amount of leeway. Their ultimate challenge is to make sure that the premium is not so low that there won’t be enough money to pay claims. But it also cannot be so high that it will scare off the young, healthy people who could subsidize all of the infirm people attracted to the plan’s generous eligibility rules (or frighten the employers of younger adults, who might encourage them to sign up).

    Plenty of politicians are furious about the fact that something like this became law without the long-term numbers adding up. The far more interesting question, however, is why Senator Kennedy felt this law was necessary in the first place.