It’s sad that it took the demise of the CLASS Act for the media to take notice that the problem the measure was trying to solve, long-term care, is both serious and growing.

The Obama Administration did not notify Congressional supporters of the CLASS Act, a voluntary public long-term care insurance program passed with the Affordable Care Act, before pulling the plug on the idea. Advocates were left blindsided by the official announcement, though the Administration had recently released the chief actuary and shut down the offices doing the implementation of the program.

The Obama Administration announced that they will not implement the CLASS Act, a voluntary long-term care insurance program that was a key priority of the late Ted Kennedy, and which was instituted as part of the Affordable Care Act.

The CLASS Act was inserted into the Affordable Care Act as a sort of tribute to the late Ted Kennedy, the bill’s longtime champion. It enacts a federal long-term care insurance program, a kind of public option for long-term care. The Obama Administration, emails now show, didn’t like it from the beginning. And now, there are signs that they may not put it into practice.