NBC’s ‘Today’ Show: Geraldine Ferraro ‘Always Been a Ground-breaker’

NBC’s "Today" Show’s heart-touching feature on Geraldine Ferraro’s blood cancer survival on Friday morning gave a hint at the ulterior motive that they had for running it. Substitute host Ann Curry introduced the segment, a "Today’s Update" feature by gushing, "She’s always been a ground-breaker, and she is still at it."

In the segment which ran during the 8 am hour of "Today," NBC News national correspondent Jamie Gangel interviewed Ferraro about her nine-year-long struggle against a type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma. Gangel, in her retrospective look at Ferraro’s 1984 run for vice-president, which introduced the segment, reported, "In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro made history as the first woman picked to run for vice president.... Twenty-three years later, she's making history again, but this time, medical history."

After summarizing Ferraro’s cancer diagnosis, and the medical developments that has helped her live for much longer than was originally expected, Gangel cited the additional cause Ferraro had involved herself in. "One concern Ferraro still has, the drugs are expensive, and she is lobbying for better insurance coverage for all patients."

What does Ferraro have in mind to achieve "better health coverage for all patients? Since Ferraro ran as a Democrat, and has endorsed Hillary Clinton’s run for the president, it’s not hard to guess.

In a clip from the interview, Ferraro named her top lament in her experience in fighting cancer.

FERRARO: "It's just is a very, very expensive thing to do. Very expensive thing to do, and that's the one thing that bothers me. This stuff doesn't bother me, doesn't bother me having to come in twice a week. That doesn't. What bothers me is that what's available to me is not available to every person that has cancer in this country, and it should be.

Gangel then asked Ferraro to summarize her clarion call.

GANGEL: What's the message you would like people to take away?

FERRARO: Research, research, research! If you spend enough money, and if you have enough doctors working on this thing, it's not luck, it's investment.

Of course, it’s not a big jump to figure that Ferraro has tax money in mind for this "investment."