The New England Journal of Medicine, which more commonly presents articles about medical respeach, has published a NEJM special report on where Americans stand on healthcare.

Basic findings:

• Democrat voters care more about universal care; Republicans care more about cost and quality.
• The two parties' candidates' reform proposals are essentially constructed to appeal to these differences.
• The policies are so different, and the public so divided, that the likelihood of fundamental healthcare transformation is low.

Encouraging? No. Realistic? Possibly.

But it's worth noting that the physicians who are the core audience of NEJM have been lobbying the candidates hard to ensure that their view of healthcare reform is well represented in the political debate.

And the many powerful healthcare lobbyists' differing views of reform may have as much to do with slowing or preventing reform as a divided electorate.