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GOP pushes repeal

Long-term care help targeted

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led House on Wednesday voted to repeal a financially troubled part of the 2010 health care law that was designed to provide affordable long-term care insurance.

The House vote comes months after the Obama administration suspended the Community Living Assistance Services and Support program, known as the CLASS Act.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in October said she was unable to find a way to make the program financially solvent.

Still, the White House has said it does not support repealing the program, under which workers would pay a monthly premium during their careers and collect a daily cash benefit if they become disabled later in life. Republicans have targeted the program as part of their overall goal of dismantling the health care law. Action on the bill in the Democratic-controlled Senate is uncertain.

“Republicans are committed to repealing and defunding it, piece by piece if necessary,” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said of the health care bill after the CLASS Act vote.

The House vote was 267-159, with 28 Democrats joining all 239 voting Republicans in support.

The Senate has ignored House votes in the past year to repeal the entire health care law or to block funding for parts of it. One of the few changes Congress has been able to bring about concerned a requirement for small businesses to file more health care paperwork.

The CLASS Act was supposed to address the crisis in long-term care coverage. Currently some 10 million Americans need long-term care, and that number is expected to hit 15 million by 2020.

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