2011 Medicare Benefits include a 50% discount for covered brand medications for those in "doughnut hole"

Older voters are less likely to support recent federal healthcare reforms, so a visit from Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Howard Koh to a seniors center in Chicago on Tuesday, was viewed by some as part of an Obama Administration effort to sway seniors' opinions before the November mid-term elections, the Associated Press reports.

Koh told seniors at the John Baran Senior Center about preventive care services that will be available through the new healthcare reform law. Fraud prevention was another key topic.

The visit comes one day after the announcement from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that her department had issued more than 1 million checks worth $250 to Medicare beneficiaries who had fallen into the Part D prescription drug coverage gap this year.

Next year, those who fall into the doughnut hole will receive a 50% discount on covered brand name medications while in the doughnut hole, according to an HHS release.