Pete Stark: “I continue to suggest that this is a waste of money. Three and a half million or more people have long-term care, they…”

“I continue to suggest that this is a waste of money. Three and a half million or more people have long-term care, they will get no benefit from this. In its final year we will spend $561 million to get 100,000 people more in. That is a marginal benefit. If we really wanted to have long-term care, we might redesign a Federal program much like Social Security that people would like, they could afford. It is a social insurance program; and as it is with MSAs and with Medicare+Choice, these are failed programs. They are not working. Companies that issue them are going broke. People are not signing up. Why we continue to beat these dead horses and waste good taxpayers' money year after year escapes me. I would hope we could come back. We recognize that there is a problem. Let us solve it in a way that is more than campaign rhetoric. Let us solve it with a program that does the job for all Americans regardless of their income, and then we can be proud of our work.”