Michelle Pushes Reform, Recalls Sasha's Illness

Michelle Obama joined her husband's push for health care reform today with a personal pitch aimed at women, reports Politico. She recalled her father's fight with multiple sclerosis as well as an illness daughter Sasha suffered as an infant. "I think about what on earth would we have done if we did not have health insurance," she told a group of women at the White House. "What would have happened to that beautiful little girl? ... She could have lost her hearing. She could have lost her life."

Obama appealed to all women to back reform, noting that they are more likely than men to work part-time or for employers who don't provide coverage. "If we want to achieve true equality for women ... if we want to ensure that women have the opportunities they deserve ... then we have to reform the system," she said. "It is holding women and families back and we know it."

(More Michelle Obama stories.)