Yes, it will be a huge issue. The Democrats will say "We're going to give you free/government funded health care with no hassles. You just to the doctor when you want to. The system will take care of everything." This will appeal to a lot of people.
However, this will be rationed care with government gatekeepers hidden well out of site. The dems won't bother to point that out. Since a rationed federal system can coast for some years on the existing infrastructure, the real damage only becomes apparent downstream. That's the political difficulty we face.
correct - this is going to implode on us for 2008. Hillary will just offer universal medicare, and we'll be out there offering to tax employer provided health benefits.