Michelle Obama back on health care

With President Obama abroad, first lady Michelle Obama will take up the health care mantle on Friday with a speech focused on the difficulties older women face getting insurance.

Her office announced today that she will be joined by Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Health Reform Office, and three women who will share their stories. "The event will highlight the important need for health insurance reform to help women access the care they need as they age, and to provide aging adults with affordable, reliable, quality health care," her office said.

The first lady jumped into the fray in a big way for the first time in mid-September, giving a speech on the importance of fixing health care for women.

“If we want to achieve true equality for women, if that is our goal . . . we have to reform the system. The status quo is unacceptable. It is holding women and families back, and we know it,’’ she said at an event sponsored by the six-month-old White House Council on Women and Girls.