Teresa Heinz Kerry, daughter of a physician and chief executive of a philanthropy funding health-care initiatives, put that experience to work in Bellevue yesterday while on the stump for her presidential-candidate husband at a roundtable discussion on the funding crisis in U.S. health care.

Before an invitation-only audience of about 40 doctors, nurses and other health care professionals at the Eastgate Public Health Center, Heinz Kerry expounded upon the ills facing a health care system in which millions of Americans are without insurance coverage.

Drawing extensively upon her own background as head of the Heinz Family Philanthropies, which works with states and cities around the nation to institute cost-effective strategies for providing prescription drug coverage to the elderly, children and the uninsured, Heinz Kerry deftly negotiated the intricacies of health care policy lingo to push Sen. John Kerry's plan for fixing the system.

Heinz Kerry's discussion was reminiscent of her husband's phrase, "I have a plan," as she spoke of the Kerry-Edwards strategy for addressing the funding crisis by taking steps such as an intense focus on preventative health care.

"What I see in America today  is that, for the most part, we are not a very healthy country," Heinz Kerry said. Too many children, for example, are suffering from a form of diabetes caused by a poor diet. "John's plan focuses on wellness and prevention."

Early emphasis on prevention could save as much as $50 billion a year just by reducing the incidence of diabetes-related disease, she said.

Under the plan, every child would be covered by health insurance. The plan also calls for catastrophic coverage that kicks in when the cost of an illness hits $50,000. The government would pick up 75 percent of the cost of premiums, with the other 25 percent being split between employers and employees. Under the catastrophic provision, she said, both the company and its employees would have to commit themselves to a wellness program.

The plan would eliminate the excuse of high-cost health coverage used by some employers to outsource jobs, she said. "Health care should never be a reason for American corporations to outsource or American people to lose their jobs."

Critics say Kerry's 10-year, $653 billion health care plan could cost more than twice what the senator's campaign says it would and would result in nationalized health care.

Swedish Medical Center emergency-room nurse Don Miller rose to tell Heinz Kerry that the ER has become "America's primary care health provider for the uninsured, underinsured and those on Medicaid." Ultimately, said the 30-year veteran nurse, using the ER for that purpose costs 10 times more than a visit to a primary care provider.

Heinz Kerry, who also appeared yesterday at a "Women for Kerry" rally at Seattle Central Community College, responded that society must educate people on the appropriate use of health care by teaching them to get early care at places such as public health clinics.

Miller said, "I think she has made it clear that health care is an important issue with her husband."