Obama faults self on health plan

Associated Press

FALLS CHURCH, Va.

Blaming himself for coolness to his health-care overhaul, President Barack Obama is seeking to reintroduce the law to voters who don’t much like or understand it six months after he signed it.

The White House gathered patients from around the country who have benefited from the measure, and the president rolled up his sleeves to address them Wednesday in a sunny Virginia backyard, highlighting changes that take effect at the six-month mark today. These include a ban on lifetime-coverage limits, as well as free coverage for preventive care and immunizations. Young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ plans until they turn 26, and kids with pre-existing health conditions won’t be denied coverage.

“We just got to give people some basic peace of mind,” the president said,

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Norma Byrne of Vineland, N.J., told the president, explaining she was benefiting from the law’s provisions that are closing a Medicare coverage gap for prescription drugs.

But such gratitude isn’t the norm.

A new Associated Press poll finds high levels of misunderstanding about what’s actually in the law, and more people opposed than in support. And with crucial midterm elections six weeks away, the only Democrats running ads about the historic legislation are the ones who voted “no.”