President Barack Obama and the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, have disagreed over how to tackle rising healthcare costs in the United States and the number of people who lack health insurance.

Speaking at the first of the presidential debates on 3 October, Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, moved closer to the center than his far right positions in campaign speeches.

He said that he would repeal the health reform law passed in 2010 but would retain several of its provisions, such as requiring insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions and allowing young people to stay on their parents’ insurance.

When Romney was governor of Massachusetts he introduced universal healthcare coverage in a …