This week: Healthcare to get air time in presidential debate

All eyes will be on the campaign trail this week as President Obama and Mitt Romney perform in the first of three debates.

The presidential candidates will face off Wednesday night in Denver at an event focused on domestic policy. One of the debate's six segments will focus on healthcare, likely covering the Affordable Care Act and the candidates' plans for Medicare.

The event gives Romney an opportunity to repeat his opposition to federal healthcare reform and promise to repeal it — both articles of faith for conservatives. But he may also cite his own Massachusetts healthcare law, which inspired the federal one, as evidence of his compassion for underprivileged Americans.

Romney began invoking his state healthcare law ahead of the Republican National Convention, and has continued, saying Wednesday: "I got everybody in my state insured … I don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record."

The Affordable Care Act remains divisive with the public and could spell problems for Obama with some swing voters. But polls also show Obama with a double-digit lead over Romney when it comes to healthcare issues. September's Kaiser Health Tracking Poll found Obama with a 20-point advantage over his GOP challenger on who is more trustworthy to determine Medicare's future. Obama came in 14 points ahead of Romney on who is more fit to cut Medicare spending. And the same survey found that 45 percent have a favorable view of Obama's healthcare law — a level of support the law has not seen in two years.

Back in Washington, D.C., the healthcare world will be looking at costs, Medicare Part D, and like everybody else, the presidential campaign.

On Monday, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) will join former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala to discuss entitlement reform and controlling healthcare costs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Another panel on the same topic will include Alice Rivlin, former director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and John B. Taylor, the former Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs.

The Commonwealth Fund will release a report analyzing the presidential candidates' healthcare plans, looking specifically at projections for the number of uninsured. The report will come out Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, the centrist think tank Third Way will release an opinion poll on the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

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