Health Reform Prospects Fade as Presidential Campaign Enters Homestretch

August 27, 2008

As presidential aspirants geared up their issue analyses last fall, health reform ranked as the number one domestic policy item the next President should address in many national public opinion polls. As the campaign season draws to a close, however, health reform has virtually disappeared from the headlines, supplanted by concern about gas prices, home mortgage foreclosures, soaring food costs and, most recently, the “Soviet” invasion of Georgia. Though you will hear campaign rhetoric  from both parties at their upcoming conventions, health reform has been demoted to the second tier of campaign issues. Their platforms and campaign pledges on health reform seem increasingly unlikely to decide who is the next president of the United States. (The Health Care Blog)