The CCA & the CLASS Act--Both of Them

All of a sudden I felt drawn to look up the CLASS Act just now. What is the difference between that and the CCA? I think I know, but I'm not sure. CLASS stands for Community Living Assistance Services and Supports. If you read this blog, you know that CCA stands for Community Choice Act. They almost seem the same (the kinda sound the same) but they're not.

[image description: a poster from the 1992 movie "Class Act." Corny? I'm trying to be cute]

From what I understand the CLASS Act would allow people to take a certain amount of their paycheck and save it in an account (the interaction between your $ and government control is where I have no clue) to be used to fund supports to keep you in your home once you're an old geezer. Can't be used towards paying off your gambling debt or anything else. The CCA however will restructure Medicaid funds to allow thousands of people to use those funds to live in the community.

I support both bills. I believe both programs have a place in this country, it's just that, well, passing the CCA is a matter of life and death and passing the CLASS Act is not. People who can afford to set aside money into a CLASS account could do the same thing without a formal government program. People serviced by the CCA can't. I'm refraining from a full out rant because this isn't the origional intention of the post.

The point was that when I googled CLASS Act I was lead to H.R. 386: CLASS Act of 2009. If you click on the first CLASS Act link you'll note that the CLASS Act is actually H.R. 1721. Apparently CLASS also stands for College Learning Access Simplicity and Savings Act. I laugh at the thought of two people getting into a very heated, very passionate political arguement only to discover they were both actually talking about two different bills! Will that actually happen? Probably not. But still... way to make the political process even more confusing congress!