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    Michelle Obama Speaks Out on Wellness, But Not Before Congress

    Posted:
    06/29/09
    Only three first ladies in the history of the nation have addressed congressional committees. Michelle Obama -- a former executive of a university medical center -- has no intention, for now at least, of being the fourth. So says the East Wing, even as President Obama presses Congress to pass his health care reform proposals.

    Mrs. Obama starts the week with an appearance Monday afternoon at the Unity Health Care Upper Cardozo Community Health Center in Washington.
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    There, according to a White House statement, "she will visit with the Center's patients and caregivers privately. She will also deliver remarks praising the Center's work and discuss the need to further support Community Health Centers." Unity Health has more than 20 sites throughout the Washington area and serves more than 81,000 clients each year, most of them with incomes "below 200% of the federal poverty level," the statement added.

    I asked Camille Johnston, Mrs. Obama's communications chief, about the prospects of Mrs. Obama going up to Capitol Hill. The first lady has been speaking on the wellness side of the health care equation, not getting involved in any of the legislative wrangling.

    "Mrs. Obama will not be going to the Hill. Her remarks about health care will be similar to her last couple of events, where she references the need to focus on prevention, wellness, childhood obesity," Johnston replied.

    "Having covered Mrs. Obama since January, you will see no difference in the tone of her remarks. Her schedule will also reflect no change in how she is approaching her position or her role in the health care debate."

    Former first lady Laura Bush would have testified before a Congressional committee, but fate intervened: The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks forced her to cancel her remarks on early childhood education scheduled that day. Mrs. Bush was at the White House, getting ready for her appearance, when the first airplane flew into the World Trade Center. She was en route to the Capitol when the second plane hit.

    I was there the last time a first lady testified before a Congressional panel -- Sept. 28, 1993, when Hillary Rodham Clinton went before the House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by then-Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.) She spoke for two hours in her role as the driving force of the White House health care overhaul team. She sent Congress a 1,342-page bill, but the whole effort fizzled. That was the last time Clinton, as first lady, took on a formal legislative role.

    "Clinton is only the third wife of a president to appear before a Congressional committee. Eleanor Roosevelt testified before a committee in 1940 about Washington, D.C.'s welfare institutions. In 1979, Rosalynn Carter discussed mental health funding," I wrote in my Chicago Sun-Times story at the time. Later in the day, Clinton appeared before the Energy and Commerce Committee.

    Team Obama is seeking to avoid the mistakes the Clintons made before giving up on their ambitious health care reform plans in 1994.

    Mrs. Obama joined what was then called the University of Chicago Hospitals in 2002 as executive director for community affairs. In 2005, she became vice president for community and external affairs at the renamed University of Chicago Medical Center.


    UPDATE

    At the Unity Health Care Center, Mrs. Obama talked about the health problem of obesity, especially in the African-American and Hispanic communities.

    And taking note of the pending health legislation, she said, "As you all know, we're at a critical juncture in the debate about health care in this nation. The current system is economically unsustainable, and I don't have to tell any of you that. And despite having the most expensive health care system in the world, we're not necessarily healthier for it.

    "As the President and Congress begin to tackle health care reform, the flag is being raised on the costly effects of preventable diseases that burden our health care system. And community health centers like Upper Cardozo, Unity Health Care are a vital component for this discussion."
    Mrs. Obama also announced how a $850 million slice of stimulus money will be spent on clinic based care.

    "I am pleased to announce today the release of $850 million in Recovery Act grants to upgrade and expand community health centers across the country. This money will help community health centers reach more people in need and make all of our communities healthier places to live and to work. This is a new investment on top of the hundreds of millions of dollars that have already enabled health centers to expand and improve their services this year. So this is more.

    "For centers around the country, these Recovery Act grants will mean new diagnostic equipment, renovation of facilities that need repair, expanding computer centers to help manage electronic medical records, adding on new staff, expanding programs that work. And over the next two years, Recovery Act dollars for community health centers will expand desperately-needed services to more than 2.8 million people.

    Right here at Upper Cardozo... 20 new exam rooms will be built with the $2.5 million grant that's going to go to Unity Health Care to reach 24 percent more patients. And the thing you all know, that's going to have a major impact on the people who use these facilities who live in this community."

    While Mrs. Obama was at the U of Chicago, the medical center was grappling with neighborhood residents using the hospital emergency room for ongoing health issues that could have been treated in other settings.


    "All these folks who, with your help, are able to better manage their chronic conditions do a number of things. They stay out of the hospital, they stay out of the emergency room, which is the most costly way to receive care in this country, and they stay on the job and in school instead. A win-win situation. Health centers are community catalysts that improve lives, and that's why this investment is so critical," she said.




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    Lynn Sweet

    Lynn Sweet is a columnist at PoliticsDaily.com and writes the Daily FLOTUS blog on Michelle Obama. She is also Washington Bureau Chief of the Chicago Sun-Times.... more

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