Obama tells seniors health overhaul benefits them

WHEATON, Md. - As seniors who fall into Medicare's prescription drug coverage gap awaited their $250 checks under the health overhaul law, President Barack Obama sought Tuesday to sell the law to a crowd of skeptics, launching a defense of his presidency's biggest accomplishment.

The questions Obama got from the crowd at a senior center in suburban Maryland, and from others listening on the phone, suggested that plenty of doubts remain even now that the rancorous health care debate has faded from the headlines.

There's only so much Obama can do to ease concerns. But with crucial midterm elections looming, the administration is determined to put the law's benefits front and center as they come on line, in hope of winning over public opinion for the new system and generating confidence in leadership by Obama and his Democratic allies controlling Congress.

Yesterday's event was timed to coincide with the release later this week of the first batch of the $250 checks to seniors who fall into the Medicare "doughnut hole." Some 4 million elderly and disabled people will get checks this year, a downpayment on the law's approach to closing the doughnut hole entirely over the next decade.

The first question came from a woman in the audience: Why can't he close the doughnut hole faster? Obama's answer: "It's very expensive." The next question was from a listener in Illinois who wanted to know whether participants in the private insurance plans in Medicare, called Medicare Advantage, would lose benefits.

The answer is yes, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But Obama didn't come out and say it, explaining instead that Medicare Advantage plans are overpaid and subsidized by the majority of seniors who are on regular Medicare, something that's also true.

"What you need to know is that the guaranteed Medicare benefits that you've earned will not change," the president said.