WASHINGTON — One of the thorniest debates in American politics is over health care. Now add a pandemic.

The future of America’s health insurance system has already been a huge part of the 2020 presidential race. At campaign events over the past year, voters have shared stories of cancer diagnoses, costly medications and crushing medical debt.

That was before more than 68,000 people in the United States tested positive for the coronavirus, grinding the country to a halt, upending lives from coast to coast, and postponing primary elections in many states. The virus has made the stakes, and the differing visions the two parties have for health care in America, that much clearer.

“Health care was always going to be a big issue in the general election, and the coronavirus epidemic will put health care even more top of mind for voters,” said Larry Levitt, the executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan research organization. “Sometimes these health care debates can get a bit abstract, but when it’s an immediate threat to the health of you and your family, it becomes a lot more real.”