Washington, D.C. – Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA) gave the following speech in the House of Representatives in support of H.R. 1173, the repeal of the CLASS Act. The CLASS Act is a new government-run insurance program for long-term care that was included in the 2010 health care law. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently conceded that it was fundamentally flawed and too costly to implement. Despite that report, a court could still order them to attempt creating it as long as the law remains on the books, which is why Congress needs to repeal it. H.R. 1173 passed the House by a vote of 267-159. You can watch a video of the speech here or read the text below:

“Madam Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1173, the Fiscal Responsibility and Retirement Security Act. It’s now clear that long before the Democrats’ health care overhaul was passed, the Obama Administration knew that the CLASS Act was a seriously flawed program that could not be implemented. For example, Medicare actuary Rick Foster said way back in June of 2009, ‘Thirty-six years of actuarial experience lead me to believe that this program would collapse in short order and require significant federal subsidies to continue.’ Yet these warnings went unheeded, and the CLASS Act remained in the health care bill nine months later because it created an illusion of budget savings – an illusion based entirely on the fact that it was designed to collect premiums for a full five years before it would have to start paying benefits.

“Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the cost of federal health care entitlement programs will more than double over the next decade. Madam Chairman, for the sake of our nation’s future, we must get these costs under control. The CLASS Act is an unsustainable program that, if it ever begins operating, would inevitably need a major taxpayer bailout. By repealing it today, Congress can send a clear message that we are going to start finding solutions to rising health care costs, instead of making the problem worse.”