The flip side of that is the length of time that drugs take to get to market. Patients desperate for a new option for treatment say that the approval process is too slow, but there are plenty of examples of drugs that were rushed to market only to make headlines a few years — or even months — later when they prove to be the cause of other serious health problems.

The cost of long-term care (LTC) is another issue that’s not getting enough attention. Medicare doesn’t pay for it, Medicaid will — but only if you’re a step away from indigent — and private LTC insurance can be prohibitively expensive. In addition, as costs for LTC rise, many insurers exit the market or raise premiums beyond people’s ability to pay.

The long-term health of another program — Medicare — is another issue candidates haven’t addressed much, either. While Medicare accounts for 14 percent of all federal spending, and costs look likely to climb as more and more boomers hit the age at which they start spending more on health care, Republicans are talking about privatizing the program that pays for all these medical expenses. That would put the onus on private insurers to handle any price increases in care. Other Medicare issues, while not so sweeping, also have an outsize effect on beneficiaries and providers.

And last but not least is dental care. People in this country are dying from lack of access to dental care; neglected dental issues can snowball into such conditions as heart disease, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease — not to mention infections that can begin in the mouth and spread to other parts of the body. Dental insurance is uncommon and doesn’t cover very much, leaving both children and adults without the protection that regular dental care could bring.