Elizabeth Edwards came out of hiding Wednesday.

In her first public talk since her husband, two-time Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards publicly admitted having an affair, Edwards attended a talk in Philadelphia on health care. She never mentioned her marital ordeal. Edwards was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, which disappeared after treatment but returned in early 2007 in an insurable form.

Saying she’s discouraged that health care is falling on the nation’s list of priorities, Edwards also critiqued the plans of both leading presidential candidates, Sens. John McCain, R-AZ, and Barack Obama, D-IL.

The Philadelphia Enquirer reports that Edwards told the audience of 200 people at the National Constitution Center that the current health-care system is immoral and "fails everyone except the extremely wealthy." She said Wall Street’s financial crisis may demand national attention and money that would otherwise be invested in fixing the health-care system.

"I’m more discouraged than I was before," she said. "Shame on us if we don’t take the momentum — even with all the other things that are happening — and translate it into a policy."

AP reports that Edwards said she fought with Obama over his health-care policy, which mandates insurance for children but doesn’t require coverage for adults. She had few good things to say about McCain’s plan, arguing that it would simply lower costs by forcing limited policies. But the Enquirer said she stayed mostly neutral on politics.

She said McCain "wants to take away the tax incentive for employers to provide insurance." That would drastically increase the number of uninsured and dramatically drive up health-care costs, she said.

"The problem with political rhetoric," she said, according to the Enquirer, "is that everything sounds good."

Edwards said responsibility lies both with individuals, who need to take good preventive care, and insurance companies, which should be concerned with long-term health instead of short-term savings.

John and Elizabeth Edwards have been keeping to themselves after the former North Carolina senator admitted in early August to having an affair with a staffer, Rielle Hunter. Hunter had a child that John Edwards claims is not his, and has volunteered to take a paternity test, but Hunter has refused. There’s also controversy over a $14,000 payment Edwards made to Hunter.

John Edwards has canceled all of his public events until after the November 4 election.