Rosemary Kofler, a volunteer at the Amherst Senior Center, said the center, notified of its invitation on Friday, didn't have much time to notify seniors.
Amherst resident Rosemary Kofler watches President Barack Obama on the computer during a tele-town hall meeting on the Affordable Care Act on Tuesday. The Amherst Senior Center was invited to participate in the hour-long meeting.
WHEATON, Md. - President Barack Obama on Tuesday sought to sell the health overhaul law to skeptical seniors, including those in Amherst, Mass., launching a defense of his presidency’s biggest accomplishment as the election season gets under way and the Gulf 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 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 online, in hopes of winning over public opinion for the new system and generating confidence in leadership by Obama and his Democratic allies controlling Congress.
In Amherst the president had a problem reaching his targeted audience. Rosemary Kofler, a volunteer at the Amherst Senior Center, said the center was only notified on Friday that it had been invited to participate in the national tele-town hall meeting with the president.
There wasn’t much time to notify seniors, and then the event occurred at 11:40 a.m., when many went off to lunch.
There wasn’t enough notification to get a cable box to watch the meeting on the center’s large screen television, so they had to watch it on two desk-top computers. Some seniors left because the volume wasn’t high enough for them to hear.
However, Kofler said “I’m glad to have had the opportunity see this.” She said it was informative, although she was familiar with much of what’s in the bill. “Information is key to making decisions.” She wished that more had seen it.
Kofler and her husband, Richard R., are not fans of the health care bill, preferring instead a single-payer system for everyone. “The bill has enormous problems,” Richard Kofler said.
While the bill is reportedly going to provide coverage for 32 million people, it still leaves 15 million without insurance. “A lot of people are left uncovered,” Rosemary Kofler said.
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 Republican reporter Diane Lederman contributed to this report.