http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...rting-to-fade/

"A major component of Obamacare is “totally unsustainable.” Those aren’t
the words of Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin; no, those belong to the Obama
administration’s own chief cheerleader, Health and Human Services (HHS)
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in testimony before the Senate Finance
Committee. The program in question, the CLASS Act or Community Living
Assistance Services and Support Act, is a massive long-term elderly care
entitlement program that was quietly tucked into Obamacare and never got
anywhere near the attention it deserves.

Sen. Kent Conrad, North Dakota Democrat, called the CLASS Act “a Ponzi
scheme of the first order, the kind of thing that Bernie Madoff would
have been proud of.” And then he voted for it. I suspect Bernie Madoff
would be proud of Kent Conrad. The White House’s sleight of hand goes
like this: CLASS Act taxes begin in Year 1 but the benefits don’t begin
until Year 6, so when 10 years of revenues and five years of expenses
were calculated, the Congressional Budget Office declared not only that
the CLASS Act paid for itself but, as a result, Obamacare overall would
reduce the deficit. However, when 10 years of revenues and expenses are
counted - even accepting the White House’s rosy scenario projections -
the CLASS Act goes billions into the red and Obamacare itself raises
rather than reduces the deficit.

Mrs. Sebelius agrees with the Medicare chief actuary that the program
“is at a significant risk for failure” with or without the accounting
gimmick but - channeling the spirit of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez -
she claims the law gives her “administrative flexibility” to bypass
Congress and the American voters and rewrite the law to her liking. Such
power.

In separate testimony last week, the HHS secretary admitted to
double-counting Obamacare’s cooked books. The question posed was whether
a $500 billion cut in Medicare should be counted toward preserving
Medicare or funding the new law. Her own actuary previously acknowledged
they must choose one or the other. Mrs. Sebelius‘ reply? “Both.”



--
Steve W.