Next U.S. President should establish center focused on development of cures for diseases, opinion piece states

An expansion of health insurance to more U.S. residents -- with "business, patients and government sharing the cost" -- is important, but unless "we find cures, American families will continue to be plagued by costly and debilitating fatal diseases such as cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer's" disease, former Rep. Harold Ford (D-Tenn.), chair of the Democratic Leadership Council, and Al From, founder and CEO of the council, write in a Memphis Commercial Appeal opinion piece.

According to the authors, although "we're delighted" that both Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) have "offered constructive plans" to expand health insurance, with "interesting ideas for keeping costs down and increasing the efficiency of the system as a whole," the next president also should establish an American Center for Cures -- a "Cabinet-level authority charged with fighting life-threatening" diseases. The center would "pay for high-risk, high-reward research, fund small businesses that have created possible cures but lack the money necessary to test drugs in clinical trials, and work to streamline the clinical trial process," according to the authors.

They write that "every illness that we cure or eradicate will reduce suffering, save American lives and cut the nation's health care bill by billions and billions of dollars," which would "make it far easier to ensure that everyone has access to health care." The authors conclude, "For that reason alone, the center should be a central element of the next president's health care agenda" (Ford/From, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 5/8).