The headline in the Huffington Post reads, "Giffords' Doctors Adjusting To Role As Rock Stars." Quite so. Drs. Peter Rhee and Michael Lemole are, indeed, heroes.
So why is it that nobody thinks of health insurers, public and private, as "rock stars." And the answer, of course, is that health insurance is not heroic. Medicine that heals is heroic, while finance that pays the bills is necessary, but something less than heroic. Sort of makes you wonder why politicians would put so much emphasis on healthcare finance.
As argued at National Review Online earlier this week, Serious Medicine is simply more important--to Gabrielle Giffords, and to all us--than insurance.