Obama touts healthcare law as part of outreach to women

President Obama is making his healthcare reform law a centerpiece of his outreach to women voters ahead of November's election.

The president and his lieutenants repeatedly referred to provisions of the healthcare law during Friday's White House Forum on Women and the Economy, hoping to draw a sharp distinction against the Republican presidential candidates who have all vowed to repeal the law. Obama commands far more support from women than Mitt Romney — he leads Romney by 18 percent among female voters in 12 key swing states, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released this week — and the administration has kept up its attacks against a so-called "Republican war on women" since controversy over the law's contraception mandate erupted in February.

"Because of the health reform law that we passed, women finally have more power to make their choices about their healthcare," Obama said Friday, highlighting the law's ban on insurers charging women more than men and other consumer protections in the law.

Republicans dismissed the forum as nothing more than a campaign event.

Republican National Committee Co-Chairwoman Sharon Day attacked the administration over its economic policies, which include the health reform law.

"Across America, women are feeling the pain of the weak economy — in the job market and at the kitchen table," Day said in a statement. "Wives are worried about shrinking wages and rising prices as they try to make ends meet. Mothers fear for their children's futures as the national debt skyrockets and college becomes unaffordable. Businesswomen are frustrated by the regulations and economic policies that make hiring impossible."

Obama's speech coincided with the release of a report from the White House Council on Women and Girls that highlighted several steps the administration has taken to help women, including provisions of the healthcare law: 

• 1.1 million women between the ages of 19 and 25 who would otherwise have been uninsured currently receive health coverage under a parent’s health insurance plan or through an individually purchased health insurance plan;

• 20.4 million women are benefiting from expanded access to preventive services such as mammograms, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and prenatal care at no additional cost;

• 24.7 million women enrolled in Medicare received preventive services at no additional cost in 2011 — including an annual wellness visit, a personalized prevention plan, mammograms and bone mass measurement for women at risk of osteoporosis; 

• More than 2 million women enrolled in Medicare who hit the "doughnut hole" saved $1.2 billion in 2011 due to improvements in prescription drug coverage.

"When people talk about repealing healthcare reform," Obama said, "they're not just saying we should stop protecting women with preexisting conditions; they're also saying we should kick about a million young women off their parent’s healthcare plans.

"When people say we should get rid of Planned Parenthood, they’re not just talking about restricting a woman’s ability to make her own health decision; they’re talking about denying, as a practical matter, the preventive care, like mammograms, that millions of women rely on."

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