Heinz Kerry, area women connect on comprehensive health care plan

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By ERICA BLAKE
BLADE STAFF WRITER


Beverly Malicki is caring for her granddaughter and working a part-time job, but does not have the benefit of health care. Joanne Dearth retired from a health care company only to learn by mail that her former employer dropped all retirees from their health insurance plan.

The stories of these Toledo-area women are similar to many others nationwide, Teresa Heinz Kerry told a group of about 50 local women at the Medical College of Ohio yesterday.

Continuing the wave of political visits to northwest Ohio, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry spent three hours with a select group of women to champion the need for health insurance and her husband's proposed plan.

Her message was simple: Americans should have proper health care.

"I don't think it's correct that … this nation doesn't have comprehensive health care," she said yesterday, citing that 45 million Americans are without health insurance, including 8 million children. "We have to do it right, smart, and in an economically feasible way."

more: http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040827/NEWS09/408270368/-1/NEWS