FALLS CHURCH, Va. President Barack Obama sought Wednesday to reintroduce his signature health care bill to skeptical voters who don't like or understand it six months after it became law.
Just six weeks before midterm elections expected to punish Democrats, the president surrounded himself in a Virginia backyard with people who benefited from the law a hemophiliac fearful of lifetime coverage limits that will now be eliminated, a senior citizen who got help with her heart medications.
Acknowledging that the economy is the foremost concern, Obama nonetheless insisted, "Health care was one of those issues that we could no longer ignore."
He highlighted some new reforms that take effect at the six-month mark Thursday, including new coverage for preventive care and young adults being able to stay on their parents' health care plans until age 26.
"I thank you from the bottom of my heart," one woman present, Norma Byrne of Vineland, N.J., told the president, explaining she was benefiting from the law's provisions that are closing the prescription drug coverage gap in Medicare.
Such gratitude isn't the norm. A new AP poll finds just 30 percent of people in favor of and 40 percent opposed to the 10-year, nearly $1 trillion bill to extend health coverage to 32 million uninsured. Another 30 percent were neither in favor nor opposed. The poll also found a high level of misunderstanding of what's actually in the bill.
Obama acknowledged he himself bears some responsibility for that.
"Sometimes I fault myself for not being able to make the case more clearly to the country," the president said.
Among benefits taking effect this week:
_Young adults can remain on their family's health plan until they turn 26.
_Free immunizations for kids.
_Free preventive care, like mammograms and cholesterol screenings.
_No more lifetime coverage limits, and annual limits start to phase out.
_Plans can't cancel coverage for people who get sick.
_No denial of coverage to kids with pre-existing health conditions.
keep trying to tell yourself that.
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