Michelle Obama Pins on Pink Ribbon But Pushes Legislative Reform Over Research and Prevention

Michelle Obama Photo © Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla

"In this country, getting sick shouldn't mean going bankrupt," declared Michelle Obama to members of the House and Senate as well as cancer survivors. "If you've already fought cancer, you shouldn't also have to fight with insurance companies to get the coverage that you need at a price that you can afford." Speaking to a group gathered in the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden on October 23, the First Lady said that it is "unacceptable" that insurance companies can charge higher rates or refuse to cover people with pre-existing conditions, like breast cancer. Sharing the spotlight with Second Lady Jill Biden, Mrs. Obama addressed a gathering held to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Usually a BCAM event focuses on the basics of breast cancer - like prevention, early detection, raising awareness, and promising new research, all details that Jill Biden, who helped found the Biden Breast Health Initiative would have been familiar with. The BBHI is raising awareness and providing education about breast health, breast self-exams, and healthy lifestyle choices - all aimed at prevention. Perhaps Mrs. Biden spoke about the basics, but her speech didn't get as much attention.

Michelle Obama used the occasion to talk about healthcare reform - a hot topic and one her husband wants very much to drive through the legislature. I'm glad she cares about insurance issues, even though she and all the First Family are on the presidential private insurance plan (possibly the world's best coverage). I'm glad she knows that having cancer treatments can cause financial stress and sometimes ruin. It's nice that she wore a pink ribbon and had big pink ribbons hung on the North Portico columns for the weekend.

But Mrs. Obama chose to skip all the basic information about breast cancer, and instead did her own spin on the event, using breast cancer as an issue to help sell healthcare reform. I understand, she is the First Lady and she's got to support the President. That's all fine and good. But as the headliner at a Breast Cancer Awareness event, couldn't she set aside the debate over legislation long enough to talk about the drop in deaths from breast cancer and the increase in survival rates? As a black woman, couldn't she have mentioned the exciting new research on Triple Negative Breast Cancer? I think she could have talked about new imaging technology, or about making early detection safe and affordable.

Michelle Obama's emphasis always came back to healthcare reform and insurance issues. "We have a health care system in this country that simply is not working for too many people with breast cancer and too many people who are surviving with breast cancer," said Mrs. Obama, "That's why it is so critically important that we finally reform our health care system that is causing so much heartache for so many people affected by this disease. Now is the time."

I agree that our health care system needs help - and that uninsured people especially need better care, regardless of income - cancer ignores your position on the social ladder as well as the size of your wallet. But the heartbreak of breast cancer is that we still have no cure, no effective prevention, no clear understanding of why genes mutate and allow cancer to develop, no strong measures to protect our environment from toxic pollution that correlates with cancer outbreaks, and not enough targeted treatments that kill cancer without wrecking the quality of life for the hundreds of thousands of women and men that are diagnosed every year. I'd rather hear Mrs. Obama boost more research and praise what progress we have made, than have another pitch for healthcare reform, especially at an event honoring survivors of breast cancer. What do you think? Should she have stayed on the topic of the day? Or should she keep touting insurance legislation? I know it's hard to tease these two things apart, but gee Mrs. Obama - pin on your pink ribbon and please stick to the basics. We still have a long way to go for the cure.