David Axelrod, the White House adviser, and his wife, Susan Axelrod, tell the moving story of their daughter, Lauren Axelrod, who has suffered from epilepsy all her life. The Axelrods will be featured on "Sixty Minutes" Sunday night.
That The Huffington Post gives the story such prominence--on its front page, as of Saturday night--is a useful reminder of the importance that medicine plays in our lives, with little or no regard for ideology. Good health, and the tools we need to keep our good health, are not only decisive on matters of life and death, but health and medicine also determine how we are able to live our lives.
Serious Medicine Strategists say that we should be organizing our society toward maximizing good health and the search for Serious Medicine. If we do, not only will people live longer and better, but we will have more prosperity, as we live better and more productive lives, and as we export our knowhow to the rest of the world. SMS is a win-win.
Let's hope that the Obamacare healthcare plan, if and when it finally emerges, will do everything possible to accelerate the search for cures for epilepsy, and for all other diseases. I will admit that I am not confident on that score, and if, in fact, we miss this chance to effect real cures, that would be a tragedy of monumental proportions.