Citing cost concerns , the Obama administration said Friday it has halted a long-term care insurance program that was part of the massive health care law passed in 2010 . Called the CLASS Act ( Community Living Assistance Services and Supports ) , the program was canceled by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius after a 19-month effort to find a way to make it financially viable . In a letter to Congress , Sebelius wrote , `` Despite our best analytical efforts , I do not see a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time . '' The CLASS program was similar to long-term care plans available in the private sector in which workers sign up and pay a monthly premium . It was voluntary and was to be paid for entirely by the premiums from those who signed up . In return , subscribers would get a daily benefit . But a senior administration official told CNN that there were big questions whether CLASS could be self-sustaining even when the health care reform law was being considered by Congress . And as a result , lawmakers specified that the HHS secretary had to determine that the program would be sustainable for 75 years before certifying it . The legislation had been championed by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy , D-Massachusetts . In a blog entry on Healthcare.gov , Sebelius cited warnings that not enough young healthy people would sign up . `` This could have led to a vicious cycle where premiums would have to be set higher and higher to cover the likely costs of benefits , leading fewer and fewer healthier people to sign up for the program , '' she wrote . Sebelius said she was n't giving up . `` So even as we suspend work on implementing CLASS , we are recommitting ourselves to the ultimate goal of making sure Americans can get the long-term care they need , whether it 's a working-age mom with disabilities who needs daily support right now or a young man at his first job who wants to protect himself and his family against the possibility of huge long-term care costs in the future , '' Sebelius wrote . Congressional Republicans had long targeted the program as part of their effort to repeal President Barack Obama 's health care reform law . Responding to the Sebelius decision , Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement , `` The Obama administration today acknowledged what they refused to admit when they passed their partisan health bill : the CLASS Act was a budget gimmick that might enhance the numbers on a Washington bureaucrat 's spreadsheet but was destined to fail in the real world . '' McConnell said the CLASS Act `` is only one of the unwise , unsustainable components of an unwise , unsustainable law . '' `` We should repeal the CLASS Act and the rest of the health spending law and replace it with the type of common-sense reforms that lower costs and Americans support , '' McConnell said .
His administration drops long - term deficit ##s . Officials had questions about whether it could sustain itself . McConnell calls provision a ` ` budget . ''