"I understand that we need to pay people to worry and to look out over the horizon, " he says, adding that time is the only thing that will heal the financial system, which is already on the mend.

FORBES: Intelligent Investing Panel

As people settle into their early 40s and begin to look out over the horizon of their lives, the closest and most obvious thing they see is their own parents, who typically are just starting their retirement years.

FORBES: How Much Is Enough to Retire? Careful Now...

Kennedy notwithstanding, it is hard not to conclude that a major motivation for the Class Act is to make ObamaCare look fiscally better over CBO's official 10-year budget horizon.

WSJ: Scott Harrington: Congress's Long-Term Care Bomb