One of the narratives going into the homestretch of this political campaign season is to assess how much will Democrats embrace or try to separate from President Obama's signature domestic policy achievement of his time in office, the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Tampa area Congresswoman Kathy Castor has been a huge proponent of the legislation since day one (who can forget that chaotic town hall meeting regarding health care that took place almost three years ago to the day that she was involved with?), and at a news conference at the Obama For America offices in Ybor City on Wednesday, showed that she wasn't backing down at all in her advocacy for the controversial bill, especially in how it helps women, a key narrative that Democrats have been pushing for months.
"On August 1, for 2.5 million women in Florida, their benefits were improved, meaning that their health care insurance plan now has to cover contraception and many of those wellness and preventive services," she began.
Castor was joined by two Tampa based women with recent health care issues, Sheeba George and Kristen Tocci, who joined her in thanking President Obama for his leadership in successfully passing health care reform.
Castor praised Obama for the law, particularly the provision that will allow more women to have mammograms included in their health care policies, and said that as a mother of teenage girls, she thinks that it's a great benefit that the HPV vaccine will be covered as part of their insurance costs under the ACA.
"Contrary to the assertions of a former Republican presidential candidate said, parents do have their kids vaccinated for HPV. It is the only cancer prevention vaccine that is out there," Castor said of her GOP House colleague, Michelle Bachmann, who made the assertion at a presidential debate in Tampa last September that the HPV vaccine could cause mental retardation.
