Candidates revisit swing states

After a lackluster performance in the first presidential debate, President Obama addressed healthcare issues in the battleground states of Ohio and Virginia. Earlier this month at Cleveland State University, the president gave credit to his supporters for the Supreme Court upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

“You’re the reason we passed healthcare reform so that children out there are all able to get insurance even if they’ve got a pre-existing condition,” Obama said.

Governor Mitt Romney has said throughout his campaign that he would repeal PPACA on day one of his presidency, although he mentioned maintaining coverage for patients with pre-existing conditions during the debate-a feature of PPACA. Details have not been spelled out, other than it would help those who have maintained continuous coverage and that states will be able to design programs for those that cannot afford coverage on their own.

According to a poll from the Pew Research Center, Romney is the candidate with new ideas, and 66% of those surveyed said he did the better job during the televised debates earlier this month. Romney holds a slight edge overall with a 4% lead over Obama.

The president also stopped at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., where he discussed women’s healthcare, a hot-button issue not included in the televised debate.

Under PPACA, access to preventive care such as mammograms and cancer screenings has been secured for

with no out-of-pocket costs. More than half of all women put off preventive care when those services weren’t covered, he said.

With women making up nearly half the nation’s work force and taking on the breadwinner role for their families more and more, these are not just health issue or women’s issues, Obama said. Instead, they’re vital, economic issues that affect every American family.

The rallies were among several campaign stops scheduled to take place after the debate. Both coincided with the release of the Dept. of Labor Sept. 2012 jobs report indicating that 114,000 jobs were added to the economy and the national unemployment rate dropped to 7.8%, its lowest point since early 2009.

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