Bernie Sanders uses emergency heart procedure to plug Medicare for All
Sen. Bernie Sanders put his Democratic presidential campaign on hold to undergo an emergency heart procedure this week.
But even as he recovers, the Independent senator for Vermont is staying on message.
“None of us know when a medical emergency might affect us,” Sanders, 78, said in a Facebook post Wednesday. “And no one should fear going bankrupt if it occurs. Medicare for All!”
Sanders has elevated Medicare For All as one of his signature issues in the campaign, promising universal coverage to all Americans and pushing other contenders for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination to guarantee the same.
Sanders thanked his supporters and friends for their well wishes after the procedure.
“I’m feeling good,” Sanders said in the post. “I’m fortunate to have good health care and great doctors and nurses helping me to recover.”
Sanders was in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday when he was hospitalized for chest discomfort and had two stents inserted to treat a blocked heart artery, Reuters reported.
According to Reuters, “the insertion of stents to open blocked heart arteries is a relatively common procedure, with as many as 1 million Americans a year undergoing it. After a balloon-tipped catheter is used to clear the blockage, stents — tiny, wire-mesh tubes — are used to prop open the artery.”
Sanders’ recovery could be relatively quick.
“This is a very common procedure. And there are different types of stents, of course. Which one will be used depends on what exactly the patient has,” said Dr. Buddha Dawn, a cardiac expert at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who wasn’t involved in Sanders’ procedure, according to KSNV. “Typically, if the stent installment goes as predicted, the recovery is very fast.”
Sanders adviser Jeff Weaver said in a statement Wednesday that the candidate was “conversing and in good spirits,” according to The New York Times — but Weaver also said Sanders “will be resting up over the next few days. We are canceling his events and appearances until further notice, and we will continue to provide appropriate updates.”
Sanders’ campaign has pushed his single-payer, government-run health plan by noting that “more than 30 million Americans still don’t have health insurance and even more are underinsured.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2019 at 9:33 PM.
