Michelle Obama: Health Reform Helps Women

First lady Michelle Obama is assuring older women they won't be lose Medicare benefits through a health care overhaul and the legislation is designed to bring down their health care costs.

Mrs. Obama, championing the health care overhaul at the White House in her husband's absence, said women are among those struggling the most because of the status quo and would be among those to benefit the most from a health care overhaul.

She said the measures would make Medicare more stable by eliminating wasteful subsidies to private insurance.

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The first lady also revealed she's got a health problem herself, CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports.

"Forgive me," she said, "I've got children and now I've got a cold."

"It goes with the territory," she added - sounding a bit sniffly.

The first lady said no one yet knows what kind of health care bill will make it to her husband's desk, but she's sure it will include protections on caps for health care costs and ban on denials for pre-existing conditions.

She said it will "end the discrimination women face" in the health insurance market.

And she vowed that "not a dime of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for reform."

Before Mrs. Obama spoke, three women invited by the White House explained their health insurance problems and difficulties in paying for coverage.