Choose your fighter: The Democratic debates are a chance for candidates to flash their policy chops

This week’s Democratic primary debates (two 10-candidate panels, each at 9 p.m. on MSNBC this Wednesday and Thursday) are likely to spotlight health care issues ranging from “Medicare for All” to drug pricing to addiction treatment, after months of those issues playing a central role at campaign rallies and town halls.

Already, Joe Biden has pledged to “cure cancer” as president. Sen. Kamala Harris tells crowds that “big pharmaceutical companies have unleashed an opioid crisis.” Sen. Bernie Sanders is the chief advocate of universal health coverage and a leading drug industry critic, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren is the author of a bill to allow the government to manufacture generic drugs. Experts say it’s no coincidence that the leading candidates have the biggest ideas on health care.

“Candidates who don’t talk about tackling the rising costs of health care will fail to meet voters where they are,” Jesse Ferguson, a consultant who has worked for Hillary Clinton and House Democrats’ campaign arm, told Lev. “The debate audience will be the first time many people are hearing a series of Democratic approaches to tackle the problem of rising health care costs compared to Trump’s approach that makes the problem worse.”

A final piece of potential intrigue: vaccines. Some Democratic Party campaign arms have begun to take heat in the press for accepting campaign contributions from Claire and Albert Dwoskin, longtime party donors and longtime vaccine skeptics. Marianne Williamson, the motivational author and longshot candidate who will appear in Thursday’s debate, has called mandatory vaccination policies “Orwellian.” When she dialed her comments back, Williamson clarified that she’s skeptical not of vaccines themselves, but of — who else? — “Big Pharma.”