Posted on 12/11/2009 6:03:48 PM PST by kristinn
Former First Lady Laura Bush was in Rochester Friday as the guest speaker at the Lakeside Foundation's Annual Gala Dinner.
Before her speech, she toured Lakeside Hospital in Brockport and sat down for a wide-ranging, exclusive interview with 13WHAM’s Don Alhart to discuss healthcare, literacy, and life after the White House.
Mrs. Bush on New Mammogram Guidelines: “Well, I was concerned about hearing the new guidelines on breast cancer that say not to do mammograms until you’re 50, and they even sort of disregard breast self-exams.
The reason I was concerned is that we worked so long for so many years to encourage women to take charge of their own health by scheduling mammograms and by scheduling breast self-exams. I think it’s counter-productive now to come out and say it’s not necessary. It is necessary to detect cancer. And maybe it’s not the best way, and maybe there’s going to be great new technology that will come out, and I certainly hope so. But right now it’s the best we have, which is mammogram.
And I know too many people, including my own mother, who discovered their own breast lump. Women know their own bodies, and so I think that breast self-exam is very important.”
Healthcare Reform: Laura Bush and Lakeside Health CEO Mike Stapleton "I really don’t know what’s in all those bills. I mean, I think it’s really confusing. I think that’s one of the objections people have. It’s not to healthcare reform because people want that, and they do want to figure out a way to bring down the cost and to make sure more people are insured.
But on the other hand, these great, big, huge bills, who knows what’s really in them. It’s very difficult to decipher it. I think that’s the uncertainty that people have about it.
What I would want, and I’m certainly no expert. I shouldn’t even opine on it, but I would like to have everyone covered in some way that they could. I think it should be private insurance, if possible, because they can offer the biggest variety of coverage for various prices.
One of the things George says is that there’s no competition in healthcare. When you go to the doctor, and they prescribe a test, you just say ‘OK.’ You don’t say, ‘Well, wait. How much is that going to cost? And let me shop it around, and maybe I can find it somewhere for less.’
There’s no real competition in pricing, and I think that would be helpful, and I think that would bring the price down. Of course, when people are covered with insurance, they don’t worry about the price of the expensive test because they’re free to them. Of course, they’re paying an insurance payment.
I think there are a lot of ways we can reform without a huge, what we see now, this huge, thick, 1,000-page bill that only lawyers can decipher."
SNIP
Sarah Palin: “I like Sarah Palin. I knew her from when she was a governor and the National Governors Association would visit the White House. George and I had just been to Alaska on our way to the Olympics in China right before she was chosen as the vice-presidential nominee.
I like her, and I admire her. She’s fresh. She’s certainly a new voice for us in the Republican Party, and I wish her the very best.
We’ll see what she decides to do, and I do want women involved in politics, and especially Republican women.”
SNIP
Bump.
I miss her....Glad she lives in my neighborhood.
“We’ll see what she decides to do, and I do want women involved in politics, and especially Republican women.” ~ Laura Bush
Give me five more years and I’ll be retired, Laura. Then I’m gonna take my little Wisconsin ‘Cow Town’ by storm, run for office (I think I’ll start with Mayor) and kick some Commie @ss for you and all the other Conservative Women out there!
Sarah is paving the way for a lot of us that are waiting in the wings. God Bless Her! :)
Wish she lived in mine. What a classy woman.
Thanks for posting this!
Lady Laura is first class all the way.
Mrs. Bush is the epitome of a very gracious former first lady who blessed America with her presence during her husbands Presidency. What a wonderful couple. Bless both of them.
Laura Bush is a class act all the way. Michelle Obama could learn a lot from Laura. God I miss Laura being in the White House. God Bless her!
Just bought Sarah’s book for the grandaughters. The five of them will have to share.
Didn’t she say she admired Hillary and Michelle too??
Bump for later viewing and reading.
But Sarah Palin is definitely an American, an historical sort, the kind we unfortunately don't see very often in the upper echelons of our government.
More importantly she truly is a uniter. No pretense. No made up story to sell her to the skeptical. She's just Sarah.
I hope she runs. I hope all she is doing now is part of a plan. I look forward to President Palin pulling us together, undoing the damage obama, Reid, Pelosi and others have done and getting us back on track and moving forward again.
There can never be another Reagan. But...could there be something similar but something new? Perhaps a President Palin? I think we are ready if she is...
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