Health care issues in presidential campaigns

To the Editor: As senior health adviser to Jesse Jackson's 1988 campaign and as a participant in many of the developments that Blumenthal and Berenson refer to in their article “Health Care Issues in Presidential Campaigns” (Sept. 28 issue),¹ I disagree with their pessimistic observation that health care issues do not figure prominently in U.S. presidential campaigns and with their explanation for it — the failure of American voters to attach importance to health care issues. The facts show otherwise. According to ABC News exit polls,² voters’ concern about health care ranked above their concern about prison furloughs (i.e., Willie.