Found this gem from 2004 that I never saw back then. ReTeresa and healthcare.

[blm]

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/09/con04405.html

[ProSense]

1. Nice find. Great story. n/t

[MH1]

2. Excellent article - thanks for posting.

And, it is real work that Teresa is doing. Rather than simply writing checks, Teresa has spent decades working with private NGO’s, foundations, corporations, unions, and academic institutions in a non-partisan manner. But the extent of her involvement came as a surprise to me as she almost off-handedly described how directly she’s been involved with doctors at the University of Pittsburgh in designing pilot programs to study the effectiveness of early childhood initiatives, including one called Early Start. Then there was her discussion of PBMs (Pharmacy Benefit Management plans). Again, I was surprised at her hands-on experience in this area. Teresa has worked through her foundations to set up a state-administered prescription drug plan for the state of Massachusetts and one in Ohio for the uninsured and emphasized the need to offer different solutions for the needs of different states. She knows that unless they are set up with transparency and accountability, many of the private PBM plans set up through employers and pension plans to distribute drugs are just no-risk, cash cows that add an unnecessary layer of costs in our healthcare system.

Definitely the kind of perspective that needs to be brought to the problem.

[karynnj]

3. Thanks for posting this

Teresa Heinz Kerry is every bit as amazing as her husband. I really resent that the small minded amoral people in our media ignored things like this and absolutely distorted this very lovely person's life.

She obviously had the same type of courage as he did to have marched against apartheid in South Africa as a young college student.(Given her age, this had to have been in the late 50s or early 60s - decades before things changed there,)

In sddition to her obvious brilliance, this is who John Kerry said had the best moral compass he had ever seen. You would expect him to be biased, but it was interesting that he chose to say this.

I really can't wait to see more of the Kerrys together describing their book and hope they can get the coverage it is likely to deserve. (I also hope that in seeing them - and especially her - for who they are, that many people what they rejected.