Obama tries to reassure seniors on health care

• veteran

  06/10/2010

  CVD1 says:

  Obama tries to reassure seniors on health care
  Erica Werner,Julie Pace, Associated Press
  Wednesday, June 9, 2010
  (06-09) 04:00 PDT Wheaton, Md. --
  President Obama sought to sell the health overhaul law to skeptical seniors Tuesday, opening a defense of his presidency's biggest accomplishment as the election season gets under way and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill dominates news.
  The questions Obama got from a crowd at a senior center in suburban Maryland, and from others listening on the phone, suggested that 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 hopes of winning over public opinion for the new system and generating confidence in leadership by Obama and his Democratic allies controlling Congress.
  Tuesday's event was timed to coincide with the release later this week of the first batch of $250 checks to seniors who fall into Medicare's prescription drug coverage gap, known as the "doughnut hole." Some 4 million elderly and disabled people will get checks this year, a down payment 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.
  The Medicare rebate checks will be the first tangible benefits most recipients will be seeing from the law Obama signed in March, and the first batch of 80,000 is supposed to go out Thursday. Seniors are a key voting bloc for the White House but have demonstrated more skepticism than others about the law.
• veteran

  06/10/2010

  Marc says:

  While it true Medicare Advantage members may see an increase in co-pays or premiums, the alternative would be the Republican plan which would be to eliminate Medicare altogether. Along with eliminating or drastically reducing social security benefits, that is something Republicans have been wanting to do for a long time.

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