Medicare's basic monthly premium next year will be much lower than expected, the government announced Thursday. The lower rate could pay political dividends for President Obama and for Democrats struggling to win over seniors in a close election.
Democrats are digging in their heels over a recently suspended part of President Obama's health care law, saying they want to fix the flailing long-term care program instead of repealing it, as Republicans have proposed.
Class, for lack of a better comparison, is like bladder control: You either have it or you don't. When it comes to forcing Obamacare upon America with dishonest gimmicks, the Democrats have no class. A major portion of Obamacare just collapsed under its own weight, and Democrats are forced to admit that Republicans were right about it all along.
!["By the time we got to the debt-ceiling debate, you could tell the leadership, the [Republican Study Committee], the organizations that pushed the priority agenda through our conference had turned over to the money side of this equation rather than the principled side of Obamacare," said Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican who has sponsored some of the repeal efforts.](http://media.washtimes.com/media/image/2011/10/25/20111025-202049-pic-156017707_s101x72.jpg?04fe3d8d851cca08ea25759d3a999231e833d775)
Republicans scored historic gains in last year's elections in part on their pledge to scrap the new health care law — but their passion for repeal has dimmed in the face of a split Congress and the difficulties of untangling the complex legislation.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday called a halt to the implementation of the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) longer-term insurance program, saying there is no "viable path forward ... at this time." That means a key component of Obamacare is dead. True to form, however, the White House is doubling down, insisting that the CLASS program must be preserved. Congress needs to make sure that never happens so this scheme remains buried.
President Obama is clinging fiercely to a key part of his new health care law, with the White House on Monday saying he opposes efforts to repeal the CLASS Act — even though his administration said Friday it would suspend the new entitlement indefinitely.
The Obama administration's signature health overhaul law, under relentless assault by Republicans, has suffered its first major casualty — a long-term care insurance plan.
The Obama administration Friday pulled the plug on a major program in the president's signature health overhaul law _ a long-term care insurance plan dogged from the beginning by doubts over its financial solvency.
The Obama administration, admitting that a key part of its health care law is unworkable, has abandoned the long-term care provision for the elderly and infirm in its health care law because it could not certify that the program would ever pay for itself.
