
In a speech this morning First Lady Obama, a former hospital administrator, lent her voice to the call for health care reform in America. Speaking to leaders of different women’s groups, at an event sponsored by the White Council on Women and Girls, she encouraged women to get involved in the health care debate as part of “the next step” in their long quest to assure full opportunity and equality.
“Women aren’t just disproportionately affected by this issue because of the roles that we play in families…We all know that women are more likely to work part-time, or to work in small companies or businesses that don’t provide any insurance at all.
Women are affected because, as we heard, in many states, insurance companies can still discriminate because of gender. And this is still shocking to me. These are the kind of facts that still wake me up at night; that women in this country have been denied coverage because of preexisting conditions like having a C-section or having had a baby. In some states, it is still legal to deny a woman coverage because she’s been the victim of domestic violence.”
According to CNN.com, Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn stated:
“What she’s doing is putting a personal and human face on the issue … there’s nothing more crucial. Everybody gets sick, and everybody has someone in the family that gets sick … I think if you can humanize it and personalize it, it suddenly brings it home to people — especially those who are screaming and yelling about the government taking over.”
And put a human face on the issue she did. The First Lady recalled personal experiences of growning up with a father who had multiple sclerosis and the terrifying feeling she had as a parent when her child’s health was threatened by a potentially deadly disease.
“I will never forget the time eight years ago when Sasha was four months that she would not stop crying. And she was not a crier, so we knew something was wrong. So we fortunately were able to take her to our pediatrician that next morning. He examined her and same something’s wrong. We didn’t know what. But he told us that she could have meningitis. So we were terrified. He said, get to the emergency room right away.
And fortunately for us, things worked out, because she is now the Sasha that we all know and love today — (laughter) — who is causing me great — excitement. (Laughter.)
But it is that moment in our lives that flashes through my head every time we engage in this health insurance conversation. It’s that moment in my life. Because I think about what on earth would we have done if we had not had insurance. What would have happened to that beautiful little girl if we hadn’t been able to get to a pediatrician who was able to get us to an emergency room? The consequences I can’t even imagine. She could have lost her hearing. She could have lost her life if we had had to wait because of insurance.”
“And this issue isn’t something that I’ve thought about as a mother. I think about it as a daughter. As many of you know, my father had multiple sclerosis. He contracted it in his twenties. And as you all know, my father was a rock. He was able to get up and go to work every day, even though it got harder for him as he got sicker and more debilitated. And I find myself thinking, what would we have done as a family on the South Side of Chicago if my father hadn’t had insurance, if he hadn’t been able to cover his treatments? What would it have done to him to think that his illness could have put his entire family into bankruptcy? And what if he had lost his job, which fortunately he never did? What if his company had changed insurance, which fortunately never happened, and we became one of the millions of Americans, families, who can’t get insurance because of a preexisting condition?”
To read the First Lady’s remarks in their entirety click here.
It sounds like the First Lady is fired up and ready to go take the message of health care reform to the people who really make the decisions – the women of America. But are we listening?
Posted by Aminah Hanan

6 Comments, Comment or Ping
getfitnow
What is her husband’s proposal?
Would it include the same kind of patient-dumping scheme she/Axelrod and others initiated in Chicago?
Sep 19th, 2009
A. Darton
I listen to the First Lady speech and she was great. I understood exactly what she was talking about. As a wife and mother it is usally our job to do it all. Make sure the kids go to their doctor appointments and the spouses too. Then we have to not forget about about our healthcare. But what about the ones with no health insurances. Who make just alittle bit to much for Medicaid and not enough to buy your family insurance? If we put aside this Republican-Democrat thing and be honest and realize that cancer don’t care who you support. You can have insurance today and lose your job tomorrow, what then? You think you have insurance till you need it, then the insurance companies only pays so much. Or they decide to drop you. To hear that in some states insurance companies won’t cover a woman if she suffer domestic abuse. How crazy is that? Insurance for women is much higher than for men. These things aren’t right . I think the First Lady did a wonderful job. I’m so thankful things with Sasha turn out alright. Just imagine not being able to see that wonderful full of enegry little girl run around that White House.
Sep 19th, 2009
A. Darton
Only if it’s people like you GETFITNOW!!!!!!!!!!
Sep 19th, 2009
getfitnow
That’s what I like A. Darton, someone who’s not afraid to discuss the facts in a civil manner. Wow, simply wow.
Sep 20th, 2009
A. Darton
I learned it from the Town Hall meetings, theTea Bag rallies, and Joe Wilson. Aren’t you proud of me? Just wait till you see my signs.
Sep 20th, 2009
Aminah Hanan
@ GETFTNOW It’s not “her husband’s plan”. I believe the Congress is writing the bill and that may be the problem. We keep putting people in office who really don’t know how to make good ole’ honest policy that is for the people, because isn’t that what it’s all about – the people. As American citizens we really need to question why we are the only industrialized nation that doesn’t have universal healthcare for all its citizens. Who are our politicans really serving?
As far as the “patient dumping” goes, I live in Chicago and U of C has over 10 clinics spread throughout the South Side of Chicago in heavily populated neighborhoods. I don’t see encouraging patients to take responsibilty and use preventative care clinics and refrain from waiting until it’s too late and using the very expensive ER, as “patient dumping”. People who think this way are just grasping at straws.
Let’s stay focused on the real issue and treat the cancer not the symptom. The US needs a healthcare system, run by the people for the people, that doesn’t profit off pain or turn its back on people them when they need them the most. As a health care professional I know all too well that when a human being is ill it doesn’t matter if you are on the right or the left. As a human being you deserve qualtity care at its very best that can make you whole again.
Sep 21st, 2009