Melania Trump hosts White House event to unveil Barbara Bush postage stamp

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the White House's East Room on a rainy Thursday, first lady Melania Trump and members of the Bush family gathered to unveil a U.S postage stamp bearing the portrait of former first lady Barbara Bush.

Amid the anticipation of the unveiling, Trump, Bush’s daughter Dorothy “Doro” Bush Koch and Judy de Torok, a vice president at U.S. Postal Service, took turns sharing stories chronicling the former first lady's life and achievements.

Bush Koch held back tears recalling moments from her mother’s early life. “Mom was never one to shy away from speaking the truth or taking a stand,” she said. "With her signature white hair and pearls, she became an icon in her own right, and yet, even as a former first lady, she remained humble and humorous."

The image on the stamp is Barbara Bush’s official White House portrait, which currently hangs in the entrance to the East Wing. She is depicted in a black suit and purple blouse, wearing her hallmark triple strand of pearls.

After a commemoration ceremony in Kennebunkport, Maine, where the Bush family compound is located, the stamp will go on sale June 10th.

Bush notably championed literacy programs and helped destigmatized people with AIDS and HIV when she cradled an infant during a 1989 visit to a hospice for children with the disease. Trump said Bush “changed the national conversation on AIDS and took a stand supporting gay rights.”

Trump also said she appreciated how Bush inspired people to pursue their personal dreams and was ahead of her time when she made the call for a female American president.

“Who knows?" Trump said. "Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps and preside over the White House, and I wish him well,” she said to laughs.

Barbara Bush died in 2018 at 92 years-old. She was married to President George H. W. Bush. She is the mother of former President George W. Bush.

She was one of only two first ladies who had a child who was elected president. The other was Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams and mother of President John Quincy Adams.

And in 2016 — at 90 years-old — Barbara Bush campaigned for her son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush when he vied for the Republican presidential nomination, according to the George H. W. Bush library.

She had strong words for Donald Trump — back in 2016 she said in a joint CNN interview with Jeb Bush that she was "sick" of the current president. “He’s said terrible things about women, terrible things about the military. I don’t understand why people are for him, for that reason," she said at the time.

Melania Trump attended Bush's funeral in 2018 while Donald Trump did not attend. The White House said he stayed away to avoid security disruptions.

Bush is the eighth first lady to be honored with a U.S. postage stamp.

Bush Koch said “it’s unlikely that mom ever pictured herself on the postage stamp, and it’s very likely that she would be wondering what all this fuss is about."

First lady Melania Trump speaks during the unveiling of a U.S. Postal Service Stamp honoring former first lady Barbara Bush, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Donald Trump, right, watches as first lady Melania Trump speaks at an event for Military Mothers, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

First lady Melania Trump attends an event unveiling a U.S. Postal Service Stamp honoring former first lady Barbara Bush, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

First lady Melania Trump, from right, Dorothy Bush Koch, Alice Gonzalez Yates, CEO of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation, and Judy de Torok, vice president of corporate affairs at the U.S. Postal Service, unveil a U.S. Postal Service Stamp honoring former first lady Barbara Bush, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

First lady Melania Trump, seated left, and Dorothy Bush Koch look on after unveiling a U.S. Postal Service Stamp honoring former first lady Barbara Bush, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

SAN FRANCISCO & JACKSONVILLE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2026--

Abridge, the leading enterprise-grade AI for clinical conversations, is collaborating with Availity, the nation’s largest real-time health information network, to launch a first-of-its kind prior authorization experience. The engagement uses cutting-edge technology grounded in the clinician-patient conversation to facilitate a more efficient process between clinicians and health plans in medical necessity review.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260112960386/en/

Rather than creating parallel AI systems across healthcare stakeholders, Abridge and Availity are working together to ensure shared clinical context at the point of conversation powers administrative processes, such as prior authorization review and submission, improving outcomes for patients and the teams delivering care.

This collaboration unites two trusted and scaled organizations: combining Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform, serving over 200 health systems and projected to support over 80 million patient-clinician conversations in 2026, with Availity’s next-generation, FHIR-native Intelligent Utilization Management solution, which helps payers and providers digitize and operationalize coverage requirements within administrative workflows.

Availity’s FHIR-native APIs enable fast, scalable, and secure connectivity of payer information across the entire healthcare ecosystem. With Abridge’s Contextual Reasoning Engine technology, clinicians can gain visibility into relevant clinical information during the conversation to support documentation aligned with prior authorization requirements.

“At Availity, we’ve invested in building AI-powered, FHIR-native APIs designed to bring clinical policy logic directly into provider workflows,” said Russ Thomas, CEO of Availity. “By embedding our technology at the point of conversation, we’re enabling faster, more transparent utilization management decisions rooted in clinical context. We’re excited to collaborate with Abridge and to demonstrate what’s possible when payer intelligence meets real-time provider workflows.”

The development of real-time prior authorization is just a component of a broader revenue cycle collaboration that is focused on applying real-time conversational intelligence across the patient, provider, and payer experiences. The companies intend to support integration by collaborating on workflow alignment between their respective platforms in the following areas:

“Abridge and Availity are each bringing national scale, deep trust, and a track record of solving important challenges across the care and claims experience to this partnership,” said Dr. Shiv Rao, CEO and Co-Founder of Abridge. “We’re building real-time bridges between patients, providers, and payers, unlocking shared understanding, focused at the point of conversation.”

About Availity

Availity empowers payers and providers to deliver transformative patient experiences by enabling the seamless exchange of clinical, administrative, and financial information. As the nation's largest real-time health information network, Availity develops intelligent, automated, and interoperable solutions that foster collaboration and shared value across the healthcare ecosystem. With connections to over 95% of payers, more than 3 million providers, and over 2,000 trading partners, Availity provides mission-critical connectivity to drive the future of healthcare innovation. For more information, including an online demonstration, please visit www.availity.com or call 1.800.AVAILITY (282.4548). Follow us on LinkedIn.

About Abridge

Abridge was founded in 2018 to power deeper understanding in healthcare. Abridge is now trusted by more than 200 of the largest and most complex health systems in the U.S. The enterprise-grade AI platform transforms medical conversations into clinically useful and billable documentation at the point of care, reducing administrative burden and clinician burnout while improving patient experience. With deep EHR integration, support for 28+ languages, and 50+ specialties, Abridge is used across a wide range of care settings, including outpatient, emergency department, and inpatient.

Abridge’s enterprise-grade AI platform is purpose-built for healthcare. Supported by Linked Evidence, Abridge is the only solution that maps AI-generated summaries to source data, helping clinicians quickly trust and verify the output. As a pioneer in generative AI for healthcare, Abridge is setting the industry standard for the responsible deployment of AI across health systems.

Abridge was awarded Best in KLAS 2025 for Ambient AI in addition to other accolades, including Forbes 2025 AI 50 List, TIME Best Inventions of 2024, and Fortune’s 2024 AI 50 Innovators.

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation

Abridge and Availity Collaborate to Redefine Payer-Provider Synergy at the Point of Conversation