Obamacare

One in five Americans over age 18 suffers from a diagnosable mental illness in any given year. That's upward of 40 million potential voters. So why have we heard virtually nothing about mental health care from either candidate during this campaign? Just to provide a little context, according to the American Cancer Society's latest numbers, about 12 million Americans are living with some form of cancer; 400,000 Americans suffer from multiple sclerosis; 1 million from Parkinson's and 1.2 million are living with HIV/AIDS.

Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Beast noted Sunday that the Oct. 3 debate between President Obama and his Republican rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, dramatically shifted the momentum in the race. Instead of fading into oblivion, Romney has overtaken Obama in the polls and is still rising. If you're Romney, the lesson for Tuesday's follow-up debate is simple: be the same guy you were in the first one. That means being forceful, energized and clear, while striking the occasional safe note of moderation (e.g., "Regulation is essential.

Mitt Romney is going into the second presidential debate with almost everything going for him: fresh momentum, an enthused Republican base, improved polling numbers, his own impressive array of debating skills and an opponent desperate to make people forget his own limp-noodle performance in the first debate. But Romney could face one very big problem: He has nearly run out of flip-flops. The man has, of course, made a career out of changing positions on just about every major issue.

Mitt Romney may know more about healthcare than any other presidential nominee in memory. As governor of Massachusetts, he dove deeply into the subject while creating the most far-reaching state health plan in the country. As president, he would bring an unusual degree of nuance to any discussion of health insurance. In theory, that should thrill Republicans, who have been eager to run against an incumbent who unwittingly gave his name to a healthcare plan, "Obamacare," that has engendered more opposition than support.

Anyone commenting on the Mitt Romney-President Obama debate is obliged to venture a comment on stylistics, so here's mine: I don't agree with some of the panicked pro-Obama tweeters who thought the Republican candidate “owned” Obama, but Romney was much more commanding and at ease than I would have expected. At times Obama rambled and missed some obvious opportunities (what happened to the 47%?). But he had his moments too: I thought he was effective in attacking Romney on block-granting Medicaid and the supposed superiority of private healthcare for the elderly.

Just what to do with the nation's healthcare system has been argued time and again - but it always seems to come back to the “death panels.” Such was the case at the debate in Denver on Wednesday night, when moderator Jim Lehrer asked the candidates whether Obamacare, one of the most contentious issues this election season, should be repealed. Romney said it should, telling Lehrer that  President Obama's healthcare overhaul was too expensive for small businesses, that it cut funding for Medicare, and finally, that “it puts in place an unelected board that's going to tell people ultimately what kind of treatments they can have.” PHOTOS: Memorable presidential debate moments Obama, looking at the camera for one of the few times thus far in the night, explained to the audience that his healthcare plan didn't mean a government takeover.

President Obama reiterated a claim that his healthcare law will reduce costs, a promise he made when he started pushing for an overhaul as a candidate four years ago. Then, Obama said he would cut family health insurance premiums by $2,500 by the end of his first term. Today, this stands as one of the president's biggest unfulfilled promises. In fact, the average employee share of an employer-provided health plan jumped from $3,515 in 2009 to $4,316 in 2012, an increase of more than 22%, according to a survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust.

Vice President Joe Biden can't delve into the minutiae of domestic policy the way Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the Republican he's facing in November, can. Yet Biden can still hold his own, as he demonstrated during a visit to Nestor's Gourmet Deli in Boca Raton, Fla., on Friday for an impromptu bit of glad-handing and grub-grabbing. Biden nailed the key features of the insurance marketplaces created by the 2010 healthcare law when quizzed by a patron, although he couldn't stop himself from going overboard on the law's potential to lower premiums.

CORAL GABLES, Fla. -  Mitt Romney said it was a compliment to be called the grandfather of "Obamacare" - a statement likely to anger conservatives already skeptical of his Massachusetts health insurance program that served as a model for President Obama's federal plan. "Now and then the president says I'm the grandfather of Obamacare. I don't think he meant that as a compliment, but I'll take it. This was during my primary; we thought it might not be helpful," Romney said during a Univision candidate forum Wednesday.

Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton put on a master's clinic on how to fight a political campaign. It may not have made Democrats wish he was back in the White House (at least not every Democrat), but they sure long to see him out on the campaign trail. The former president took the stage to nominate the current president -- "I want to nominate a man who is cool on the outside, but burns for America on the inside" -- and found a way to turn every vulnerability of Barack Obama's candidacy into a strength.