Mr Gore's scheme would cover all 11.7m who lack such cover, largely because of the plans' different levels of premium subsidy and catastrophic coverage.

ECONOMIST: Latest (cash) injections

Some of their proposed design changes strayed far from the original CLASS design, which would have made it possible for nearly everyone who worked to enroll, included a premium subsidy for students and others with low incomes, charged a fixed premium, and paid a lifetime benefit for those who were unable to care for theselves.

FORBES: What We Learned from the CLASS Long-Term Care Debacle

Some banks might be unable to afford the annual subsidy premium.

ECONOMIST: Bank bonuses

Paying a guaranteed Fairtrade premium in effect, a subsidy both prevents this signal from getting through and, by raising the average price paid for coffee, encourages more producers to enter the market.

ECONOMIST: Food politics

But the pending expiration of a crucial incentive, the federal Production Tax Credit, is likely to bring the wind boom and any future hybrid wind-solar projects to a halt unless Congress extends the subsidy that pays producers a premium for each kilowatt-hour they generate.

FORBES: California's New Solar-Wind Hybrid Power Plant Greens The Grid

Some businesses have another financial concern: Firms with 20 or more employees now must pay the federal subsidy 65 percent of the premium upfront to the insurance company, then wait to recoup the money through a lower federal tax bill.

NPR: Laid-Off Workers Anxious For COBRA Extension

Only the wealthiest states in the country could possibly afford to reverse this subsidy structure by substantially beefing up the amounts provided to individuals at the low end ( whose current subsidy is only about five percent of premiums, as opposed to nearly 40 percent premium subsidies given to the highest paid workers).

FORBES: How Romney-Ryan Should Use States to Reform Health Care