The CLASS Story Pits the Angel We Don't Know Against the Devil We Do

Americans are unprepared to face the prospect of long-term care, which largely has been ignored for years by policy makers, but had its champions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, most notably in the form of the Community Living Assistance and Supportive Services program, or CLASS. This article explores these questions surrounding CLASS: What is its history, who needs CLASS, what is its potential impact, why do some want to kill it, what don't we know about it? We must educate the public and political leaders that CLASS is a risk worth taking with little downside.